The Light Reborn
by The Maiden of Light
Summary: My sequal to A Light within the Darkness Rose's lovely daughter, Sylvia, meets someone from her mother's past. Now she gets pulled into what happened 17 years ago and uncovers the true darkness that dwells in the night.
1. My Father's Diary

Disclaimer (I'm only doing this once so you get the picture): I, The Maiden of Light, do not claim any paraphernalia of the Johnny the Homicidal Maniac comic series which all property belongs to Jhonen Vasquez. The only property of my work is Sylvia Rosetta Colt, other created characters and places, and the plot.

Judge Judy: That was good.

Maiden of Light: Can I go now!

_Dear Die-ary,September 3 _

_I'm sorry that I haven't written in you for a while, but I have a good excuse. I was walking home when some jerks pushed me right into the path of a speeding car. It hurt a lot. Squee and this really pretty girl named Rose saved me and took me to the hospital. Because none of us could afford to fully pay my bill, I had to stay over at Rose's house after the operation. I wanted to kill the nurse that had to keep an eye on me. I just want to slice a new orifice into her bulging stomach, rip out her guts, and strangle her with her own intestine. Something stopped me though. _

_Afterwards, I started falling for my caretaker. She is amazing in everyway, well, except cooking. Rose could probably burn water. Even so, I couldn't take her off my mind. She changed me. I never thought my character could be so dynamic. One night, I got to dance with Rose. She is an incredible swing dancer. Well, I am too now that I learned. When Rose was out, I snuck into her room and watched a few her past dance recitals on home video. I hope she doesn't read that. _

_Then this guy named Ned shows up. Whenever he was anywhere near Rose, I couldn't help but get a feeling that hurt my internal organs. It felt like jealousy. They only other time I can really remember experiencing a phenomenon like that was when I envied Mr. Samsa for being exactly what I longed for. Anyways, This Ned turned out to be a vampire that kidnapped Rose and wanted to marry her. Squee and I stole the bat car and rescued her. Don't worry, we gave it back. I died once too. I met Ned's wife down in hell and she sent me back to earth. Then Rose and I confessed our love to each other. Not only that, all my hair fell out. What a crazy life I live._

_Dear Die-ary,September 7_

_Rose has to go back to college now. She goes to a nearby community college only a mile away. By the way, Squee's parents were arrested. The Little guy's dad tried to drown him in the tub, but luckily for him, I stopped by to borrow some hydrogen peroxide. I didn't kill the man. The knife slipped out of my hands. Anyways, now he's in the hands of a caring orphanage. I visit him every once in a while. Those little children are all antichrists! _

_Dear Die-ary,November 18_

_My hair is starting to grow back. I'm pretty glad, because it's getting colder every day. I moved in with Rose finally. When I went back to my house, I found a landfill. Everything was gone! But Rose took me in. She bought me this cool fleece hat with an evil penguin on it. I love evil penguins. There is nothing I can do to express my love for her. It's seems like her kindness is almost endless. Right now, she's learning how to knit blankets and stuff. _

_Dear Die-ary,March 2_

_I think that there's something wrong with Rose. She looks sick all the time and is really nervous about everything. Yesterday was her twenty-first birthday. An hour or so after eating cake, yum cake, she threw it all back up. I think she's sick. I hope she gets better. _

_Dear Die-ary,May 3_

_Two great things have happened to me. I found the strength to ask Rose the most intensifying question in the world. "Will you marry me?" She said yes. I think I started jumping around later. I fell down the stairs too. Now I have a lot of band-aids on my head. It's hard to write in detail when you're so overwhelmed with happiness. _

_Dear Die-ary, April 30_

_Today was the biggest shock of my life. When Rose and I went to Club Sonic for a Swing Dance Contest, which apparently we launched the idea for, she wasn't well. I practically had to pick her up and carry her out of her room to get her to go. She kept saying that people might think she was fat. How is that possible? Whenever I look at her, I see a beauty that surpasses that of angels. How can she think that? But when it was our turn to take the floor, she passed out. _

_We were taken to the hospital because she wouldn't wake up. They ran some tests and stuff. Then I was told that Rose was expected in six months. I asked why and they said that she was pregnant. Rose is going to have a baby! I just pray that this is a blessing of our love and not the harsh consequences of our… actions. But for Rose and this child, I'm ready to be a father._

_Dear Die-ary,October 17_

_My daughter was born today. I felt the coldness of my past days creeping up my spine. But it wasn't from regret. It was from fear. Lots of doctors and nurses add to interfere with this routine delivery with lots of panic. I'm not allowed in the delivery room right now. The child was born fine and without a scratch, but Rose wasn't doing to well. They could not stop her bleeding by what I hear. _

_I have just been informed that Rose and my daughter are alive and well. _

_When I saw them, that instant, the little girl in the arms of my soon to be wife, I cried. They were tears unlike any other that had streamed down my face. It was a crying of relief, of joy, of pure happiness. It was a moment of perfection that only my mind could fully understand about now being a father. I asked Rose to name her. My daughter's name is Sylvia Rosetta Colt. And she has the beauty of her mother. My love, my sanctuary, my Rose. _

_Dear Die-ary, July 29_

_This journal belonged to my dad. Now it's mine…_

The Maiden of Light: Well, I'm getting back into the game.


	2. Miss Sylvia Rosetta Colt

The crystal droplets of rain heavily dripped from their settlements on the green leaves of the lush forest to the wet grass on the saturated ground. The pink rising sun somewhat resembled a rounded peach behind a thin lace of orange stained clouds at its feet. This sight of morning glory gave sparkle to the beads of water clinging to the tall blades of grass. A very light mist hovered only a few inches off the ground. It was a morning so calm, so tranquil. It was quite early; only minutes after the pink light of dawn touched all the houses' rooftops. Even at only seven o'clock in the morning, Sylvia Rosetta Colt was already outside and hanging the cold dripping laundry out on the clothes line. The morning birds were singing in harmonious choirs in the trees with their waking hatchlings peeping to be fed.

With completely here final task of packing her lunch for the day, Sylvia grabbed her backpack and headed off to school. The brass clock on the wall read 7:32 am. That gave her enough time to walk to school and still be a few minutes early. The morning mist had finally risen off the ground as she briskly walked along the sidewalk, passing by the waking households of her fellow classmates of Whitmore Lake High School. All the houses looked somewhat similar in the little suburban town, all ranches. But the uniformity wasn't nearly as crazing as a strict subdivision where everything must be in unison with everything else. Some yards were neatly kept and well gardened while others looked like they weren't mowed in months.

When she arrived to the tended grounds of her school, there were already students loitering outside on the front lawn and sitting on the stone steps into the building. Runabout Cars were slowly filing into the student parking lot while the loaded buses were entering though the drive way. All the students were "emotionally and mentally" preparing for the long day of school in their little gossip rings and hackie sack circles.

Sylvia's presence always turned a few heads, mainly because she stood out despite her simple appearance. All the girls wore tight baby t shirts, spaghetti straps, and midriffs along with designer jeans and short skirts accompanied with some kind of expensive or flashy high heels and boots. Sylvia on the other hand wore a simple pink dress of cotton that fell to her knees and rippled in the breeze with modest straps that hid an inch and a half of shoulder on each side. Her footwear was never awe striking but it suited her fancy, usually being either sandals or a drastic shift of white socks and brown ankle high chunky boots. She rarely wore make up and her hair was magnificently shiny without the massive use of pricey beauty products. Sylvia believed her dark brown (almost black) hair was perfectly fine as a solid color and certainly didn't require the alterations of highlights or hair dye like everyone else did. It some people's eyes, Sylvia was the embodiment of beauty as simplicity.

The first rang loudly just as she passed through the doors, making her take back her calculation of time. Masses of students began filling into the building, still continuing their chatter. The thudding patter and clicking of shoes and the noisy opening and slamming of metal lockers echoes down the crowded hallways as students readied themselves for their first class. Sylvia retrieved her drumsticks and headed to band class.

The director tapped his plastic baton on the podium before him to grasp the attention of his band, "Settle, settle. I decided that instead of "Shaker Variants" we will be performing this new piece I found recently. The arrangement is named "And So the Angels Called."

There was a low murmur arising from the drastic change so late in the concert season. Within time, everyone had a new set of sheet music perched on the stands before them. Sylvia clutched her drum sticks and peered over the new score. It didn't look a bit more difficult than the other piece. Her mind just decided to drift about while everyone else in the band prepared.

"Hey Becky, Did you hear about that one David guy that graduated last year?"

Sylvia just decided to eavesdrop from behind. Her eyes focused on her new music but her ears on the two trumpet girls a row in front of her.

"Yeah, I heard he got killed! His head was slashed completely off."

"Not to mention it, but a lot of murders have been happening lately. I wonder if it's that murderer that went on a killing spree almost twenty years ago!"

"Seventeen to be exact."

"That's really creepy, Michelle."

Sylvia shook her head. The silly rumors they believe about that killer so many years ago. He was around before they were even born. He might not even be real, another one of those suburban legends. To her, he may have only been a false story to enforce kids to obey the ten o'clock nightly curfew.

Sylvia slouched in her seat, her eyelids lazily curving over her hazed eyes. In fact, she was involuntarily mimicking every other student in Mr. Chase's English class. Her book lay open, idle, and on the wrong page while the teacher simply babbled on and on about his opinions about Edgar Allen Poe and his terrible influence on the early American literature. Every once in a while a student would snort in his sleep with his head on his not-very-pillow-like text book. Even Erin Ashcroft, a particularly bright and dedicated student, was in a trance and staring out the window into the sunny morning out on the front lawn. With a silent, non existent and anonymous vote, Mr. Chase's English class was the most boring thing ever.

Everyone woke from their stupor when the intercom clicked on.

Attention students, just a quick announcement. This Friday, the National Honor Society will be throwing a fund-raising dance at seven o' clock until eleven. The dress is formal and the cost is five dollars a person. That is all.

The class settled back down into silence as Mr. Chase continued his lecture, but their minds quick not settle. Once word of some sort of social event was released, it was mass chaos. Everyone would get all riled up about who to go with and what to wear. Sylvia's plans wouldn't change much. She always went with her close friends, Rebecca and Caroline. As for the clothes, she'd need to schedule a shopping adventure. Just for a nice, yet not expensive, dress.


	3. Why I don't go to Malls anymore

"Mom?" Sylvia timidly approached her mother, who was turned towards the sink of dishes, "Can you take me shopping sometime this week before Friday."

Her mother, Rose, slid the final salad plate onto the drying rack beside the sink and reached for a towel to dry her water wrinkled hands, "I don't see why not. What's the occasion?"

Sylvia spoke as she began grabbing dry dishes in the rack to put them away, "Well, there's going to be a dance on Friday, and I wanted a nice outfit to wear. And I really want to go to this one. You remember what happened last time."

Rose nodded her head to the side, indicating that she hadn't forgotten, "Yes, I remember. But we'll wrap you up in sanitation plastic all week so you don't have to worry about catching the spring flu again."

Sylvia laughed at her mother's witty remark. To her, Rose was the most beautiful woman in the world. Her mother always had a kind face, even in her old pictures. Her hair had grown a bit to where it was now down her back. Even though the dark chestnut color had faded a meager bit with age, it was still smooth and shiny, much like her own. But Rose's face had become older. Wrinkles began curving around her facial features and her figure had bolded a bit. But still. Rose was a lovely woman. This was most true to Sylvia when she discovered the photos taken at her parent's wedding. Her mother was a radiant woman who looked more like an angel in her creamy white dress. Her father was the complete opposite. He was ghostly thin and as pale as ice. His hair was deep black and not too tame. But those eyes of him were so sunken, it gave the impression that her mother married a smiling corpse. She never knew him past that. Rose told her that he passed away a year after her birth.

As Sylvia faded back into reality, her mother's voice cut into the fogginess, "But the problem is, I am working all week. You will have to find someone to take you instead."

Sylvia nodded and closed the dish cabinet doors, "Okay."

The wind gushed over their heads as Sylvia sat in the passenger seat of Caroline's White convertible. They zoomed down the expressway, looking out for their oncoming exit. Their hair flew wildly as they sped along. The radio was blaring old 60's song that you just can't ignore. Sylvia and Caroline were singing along.

_I can't see me loving nobody but you_

_For all my life._

_When you're with me, all of our skies will be blue_

_For all my life..._

Caroline struck into conversation. The black hood began shielding over the car as they pulled onto their exit ramp.

"So, Sylvia. Do you have any idea who you want to take to the dance?" her voice was in a teasing tone.

She just smiled and looked out the window to the passing houses and playground, "Not really. I just like it when there's no dates and it's just you, me and Erin. Besides, it's not like no one ever dances with me. I have plenty of friends that are guys."

Caroline shook her head and sighed, "That's going to get old eventually. There will come a day where both me and Erin will have dates and you'll still be alone. And for your information, Erin was asked to the dance by that one Jerry guy."

Sylvia gave a rather wide-eyed look of disbelief, "Erin and Jerry? Are you talking about the Jerry that wears all black and chains, hackie sacks, and is in that Remedial class?"

Caroline smiled and nodded, "Yep. But she defended him. Plus, she thinks he's cute. I don't know what she sees. But now, she can't stop smiling."

Caroline turned into the parking lot of the West Gate Shopping Center. It was rather difficult finding a spot though. The place was packed! Exactly why, the two girls were bewildered. But in time, they filed into a vacant space between two mini vans.

Sylvia was busying herself by picking through a rack of neatly hung and color assorted skirts, all of which were pleated. She removed a bright pink one and examined it before returning it to its place on the row. Caroline on the other hand was trying on a collection of at least seven different halter tops. Ones that had thin straps, thick straps, covered all, showed her stomach, and different colors and patterns.

Sylvia now had a skirt in each hand, observing as if she was scale weighing each of them of their pros and cons, "Hey Caroline, do you think I should go with the black skirt or the denim one?"

Caroline heard her call from across the small shop and shouted back from within the narrow dressing room, "Um. I would prefer denim, but the black is more your style."

Compromising with the opinion of her shopping partner, Sylvia slipped the denim skirt back on the rack. But then, a particular garment caught her from the corner of her eye. Soon, the black skirt returned to the rack as well, amongst the yellow ones.

The two girls left the mall shop with plump shopping bags (Sylvia with one and Caroline with three!) and smiles on their faces. The clock on Caroline's cell phone and both their stomachs made it well evident that it was lunch time. Their following itinerary destination was the food court towards the center of the mall. With growling bellies, they left for their favorite vendor stall and agreed to meet at the table by the potted palm tree. Sylvia walked over to the Taco Bell while Caroline dragged her heavy shopping bags with her to the pizza place. It was a miracle how thin she was with the factor of how much pizza she could eat at a time! When they met back up at their favorite table, Sylvia had a tray containing a bean burrito with a diet Pepsi while Caroline had two slices of pepperoni pizza, French fries, and a water bottle. With food being eaten and shopping bags under the table, the girls riled up with talking. How great their outfits were, how much fun the dance will be, how Erin seems to be the more mature of the three being the only one with a date, and hoping that their little stuck up rival, Leann Laine, doesn't show. But the conversation was interrupted with something crossing into Caroline's vision.

"Look at that guy over there." she tilted her head to the left, without taking her eyes away from Sylvia.

In response, she did so, "What, the guy with blonde hair and the pink shirt?"

Caroline shook her head, "No, stupid. The guy walking out of the Hot Topic."

Sylvia narrowed her vision to see this. Across the hall, a very peculiar looking young man was exiting from the dark attire store. He appeared to be very solemn and serious. Plus, he was in between ghostly pale and perfectly normal. What would catch one's attention was his clothing. He wore a black-as-night long coat and his jeans were wrung with chains. His hair was just as black as the rest of his outfit, only it was slightly tidier. The T-shirt he wore couldn't help but force a giggle out of her.

_You laugh at me because I'm different. I laugh at you because YOU'RE UGLY!_

Caroline gave her a confused look, "Why are you giggling?"

Sylvia reached for her soda, "I like his shirt. I think it's funny."

Her friend however, didn't see the humor, "I think he's a bit scary."

After a filling yet not very healthy lunch, girls just decided to walk around. They had plenty of calories to burn off after that meal. Other people seemed to be doing the same thing. The two filed past several game stores, jewelry shops, and book nooks. At about six o'clock, Caroline and Sylvia were weighed down with shopping bags, courtesy of Caroline's gloriously generous and wealthy parents. Whenever Caroline takes Erin and Sylvia shopping, they are forced not to spend a dime of their own money. As they exited through the spinning glass doors of the West Gate Mall, a brisk chill of evening air met them. The appearing night stars were never really spotted that well on behalf of the bright lights of the busy urban area. But no matter, the stars are far easier to see back in the quiet suburbs of Whitmore Lake. There was a very faint police siren blaring in the distance, but the whoosh of passing cars was never more obvious. Without warning, Caroline dropped all her bags on the left side of a bench set near the lit entrance of the mall.

She began digging into her trendy tweed purse, "Sorry, but I promised I'd call my mom once we were done shopping."

Taking the opportunity to rest, Sylvia gently set her two shopping bags on the cement on both sides of her feet. Her shoulders instantly felt relief. She could her the tones of cell phone buttons beeping behind her.

After only ten seconds, the phone clicked shut, "Darn it! The phone's busy at home."

With that last remark, the only thing that seemed logical at the moment was to just go the car and try a little later. This didn't happen immediately.

"Well, well, well..." a slightly raspy but still smoothly spoken voice slithered by.

Caroline and Sylvia turned to the source of the voice. Four figures emerged from the unlit shadow. All of them were young men, appearing to be at least nineteen or so. It appears that the one who spoke had slickly spiked brown hair and a silver ring above his eyebrow. The girls knew this once he spoke again.

"I hope we didn't scare you pretty ladies, but we couldn't help but notice how lonely you two looked." She spot as he and his companions seemed to be encircling Sylvia and Caroline. Neither of them like the fact that they were getting closer. Deep within Sylvia's gut, she felt a dark, cold feeling welling up at the pit of her stomach. It was fear. Four against two. Four strong and rather hungry looking men against two teenage girls. The situation wasn't at all pleasant.

One guy with a leather jacket and a white bandana headband plucked at the spaghetti strap of Caroline's tank top, "I like this one. She knows how to dress fine."

Two others seemed to agree as they looked her up and down from her fancy silver sandals and her short denim skirt to her pink top and black choker necklace. Did Caroline snap, did she retaliate, did she cry. No, she blushed. Which at least was better than Sylvia's reaction of shivering. At least Caroline didn't look as fearful. Sylvia's face and hands were turning very white and her lips trembled.

"I want little angel cakes over here."

The spokesman brushed his fingers intrusively along her bare arm, making the fine hairs on it stand up. He whispered in her ear, but made it loud enough so everyone could hear, "I like it when they're scared."

Sylvia clenched her eyes shut, wishing that if she couldn't see them, they wouldn't be there. But they did not disappear. She could still feel his cold fingers dancing along her arm. She could even feel the beading of tears swelling up at her eye lashes. Sylvia opened her eyes, trying not to cry.

Another voice intruded, "I don't think the young lady requests for such rude attention."

Everyone turned. All eyes fell to the shadowy figure standing at the edge of the unlit territory. Whomever it was, he was very thin and lanky, but stood quite tall. There were dark depressions under his bright eyes and his black hair swayed slightly with the crisp breeze. It was the rippling of the long black coat that gave Sylvia and Caroline the answer to his identity. It was the young man from the mall. It appeared he was playing the role of hero at the moment.

The snake-tongued leader spat his words to the dark man, "And who do you think you are, Marilyn Mason?"

His friends laughed, one of them with his hand on Caroline's shoulder. She was beginning to look a little frightened too. The dark young man approached them, the steel of his boots clicking when he took their steps. He passed into the light. It was here that Sylvia got a true look at him. His face was very defined with slender curve at his jaw. His nose had an almost delicate angle to it. His cheeks were sunk in but he didn't look like he was starving, only dieing. He had amazing green eyes that could hook your gaze until you forgot where you were, like a jewelry store's most valueable emeralds that you seemed to be unable to pull away from the glass case over them. When he stopped moving, he was only three feet away from the leader.

"She looks far too frightened to be enjoying this. Just let them go." His cold voice spoke with little force.

The only relief Sylvia saw to the following event was that the boys were no longer surrounding her and Caroline. But now they resembled sharks, the ones that circle around their prey before they kill it. They ganged up on the young man, some of them digging into their coat pocket for something, most likely a weapon.

"You shut the hell up you little fag!" The leader threw his fist towards his opponents head. Sylvia lost her breath in a gasp as she put her hands to her face. But he was far too slow. Sylvia opened her eyes. The dark man was not struck. He was completely missed. Not only that, before the two girls could see what had happened, the snake-like gang bully was in the air and fly over their heads. He screamed as he hit the ground with heavy force. His hair was messed up and his face was red with discomfort. With their leader down, the other three boys all charged at the silent knight. But it was over when a single swing a leather and steal foot collided with three faces. Then they all fell down like bowling pins. The three goons all grabbed their faces where they were struck to ease the fell of pain.

By the time the leader was standing once more, "Come on! Get up you losers!"

The loyalty the gang showed to their leader had a line, and it was drawn here. Instead of standing to fight alongside their leader, they abandoned him. With the chance they had, the three stuffled to their feet and took off into the parking lot.

Standing their with no crew and already behind in the score, the snake-like leader pointed ominously to the dark young man and spoke with his words dripping in threat, "I'll get you. I swear to god, I will get you!"

He turned his back and fled into the direction his gang had went. Sylvia had finally returned back to reality. For a short while, she had felt like one of those Naruto cartoons had come to life right in front of her eyes. All was still again. Caroline had moved back a bit during the fight, a look of fear scratched across her face. But the dark hero had been silent. When Caroline and her looked to him, he merely nodded softly and turned his back to them. He began walked away towards the shadows he emerged from down the unlit side of the building.

Sylvia turned to Caroline, "Go get the car and bring it up front. I'll be right there."

With those words, Caroline departed for the parking lot, and Sylvia to persue her hero.

She followed into the path were he took into disappearance. But with every step she took away from the lit parking lot and signs, it grew much darker.

Sylvia called out, "Hello. Excuse me. I...um...I wanted..."

"Yes."

She instantly jumped into the air with his sudden response, behind her. Sylvia whirled around to see the tall thin figure with his hands buried in the pockets of his long black coat. Sylvia looked into his eyes. They looked almost inhuman, like cats eyes when you are in a dark room but there is a tiny bit of lit. They reflect the same mysterious glow as a night bound nocturnal animal. It gave her a moment of shudders.

She swallowed her fear and spoke unsteadily, "I, well, I wanted to thank you..f,for what you did. It was a,a,amazing."

The side of his lips curved upward a bit, to give a welcoming smile, "It wasn't any trouble."

Sylvia looked down to her feet. A question was summoned to her throat, "I know there isn't much I can do to repay you, but, um, I...can take you to a...dance this Friday. If that's okay with you."

The silence was awkward. He didn't even move, letting the invitation sink in for a moment. Sylvia held her hands together, feeling a little more ashamed and embarrassed than hopeful. The man reached out and took one of her shaken hands.

"I would be honored, miss." He knelted down and kissed her hand in a most civalrous manner, "And may I ask your name?"

A slight rosiness tinted her cheeks, "Sylvia Colt."

His eyes narrowed meagerly, but he smiled kindly, "Well, Sylvia, I will graciously escort you to your dance. When shall I meet you?"

Sylvia brought her hand back to her side, a small smile fighting to come to her own lips, "Can you meet me at the entrance of Whitmore Lake Highschool at 7 o'clock?"

He nodded his head, "I will meet you there."

Then, he turned his back and headed away.

Sylvia turned as well and began walking, but she suddenly stopped and turned around, "Wait, what is your name!"

He was gone from her sight, but she heard his voice. It was like he was speaking from right in front of her, behind her, and to every side.

"Todd."

The Maiden of Light: For all those who read "A Light within the Darkness" you should know that I'm a sucker for rescues. I can't get enough of them! It had been plaguing my mind when I was done with the other story. I kept think _I never told them what became of Rose, Johnny, Squee, Ayie, and everyone else after the adventure_. It was making my brain explode! So I made a sequel!


	4. The Night We Danced part 1

Days came and passed until Friday finally came to their clocks. Plans of Whitmore Lake students were canceled and dates were made. Most girls had already deciphered the outfit for the night.

"Um...mom," Sylvia tiptoed into her mother's bedroom, "How do I look?"

Rose looked up from her book, Five People you Meet in Heaven, and turned her eyes upon her daughter. Her mouth opened with disbelief.

"Sylvia…you look beautiful."

Todd stood outside the enlightened doors under the bold white letters that spelled WHITMORE LAKE HIGHSCHOOL. He listened as the DJ stationed within had already started the music and could hear it thumping inside. Todd leaned against the brick wall, flipping open his silver pocket watch every two minutes or so. 7:07 the numbers read.

Sylvia nervously clutched her purse as she waited on the front porch for a certain white convertible to roll up into the drive way. The black paved street was becoming illuminated by the approaching headlights of the awaited car. It came to a halt as it smoothly curved into the Colt's driveway. Caroline sat behind the wheel while Rebecca, Erin and her date, Jerry, were waiting in the back seat. The passenger seat was left vacant for her.

Couples were already filling into the building, chattering inaudible words under the pounding music. Most of the boys were dressed in baggy khaki pants and left their shirts un-tucked. The girls on the other hand had skirts short enough to make their deceased family member roll around in their graves, skin tight low cut jeans, and fancy halter tops. There were a few girls that dressed decently, but the rest wanted to present the image of sexually appealing luxury or fashion that dangerously teetered between club wear and casual clothes. Quite a few people were pointing Todd out as he awaited his date.

_Who is that guy? _

_He can't be here for the Dance he's like, more than twenty years old! _

_He's creepy looking._

Something large and white caught his attention from the corner of his eye. A clean white convertible had pulled into the parking lot. He watched it. From it emerged its driver first: An overly curvy blonde in short pigtails wearing a pleated denim skirt and a light blue sequin tank top. Next, a girl with red and blonde hair in fitting denim jeans and a purple halter top came out of the right side. Then a very classy looking girl with shoulder length black hair came out from the backseat wearing a black skirt that fell to her knees and neat burgundy dress shirt. She held the hand of a boy slightly taller than her that wore clothes similar to Todd himself. Only this boy was wearing baggy black dress pants instead of black jeans with chains and he wore a tie with laughing white skulls in difference to Todd's deep red one. Then a fourth girl appeared as she walked around the front of the car from the passenger's side.

She wore a pastel pink dress that hugged the curves of her lovely shape to her hips where it loosened into a gentle rippling length to just above her knees. Every here and there on the dress there was a patch of sparkles that could only be noticed if she turned correctly in the light. To maintain the look of casualness, she chose a black chocker ribbon for her neck instead of a silvery necklace. Her hair was shiny and flowing in its deep chestnut ponytail. She was nothing short of glowing in comparison to her companions.

When her delicate movements of walking ceased, she was standing before Todd. The silver pocket watch fell out of his hand and dangled on the chain drawing from his belt. He was simply awestruck with this lovely angel standing before him.

_God, she's beautiful... _

Sylvia stood there before her date, nervously clasping her hands on her small black clip purse. Her date, however, wasn't moving much, well, except for his eyes, which were scanning over her figure up and down. She supposed that he didn't notice that his mouth was hanging open and his hand was holding air instead of the watch.

Sylvia spoke gently, "Good evening, Todd."

With those words, his head shook and his eyes returned to their sharpened state, "Oh, um, yes. I must say, you look lovely tonight."

He drew her hand from her side and bent down to kiss it. This brought a rush of rosey color to her cheeks. He linked his arm with hers and they proceeded into the building. But before they could enter, there was a table adorned with a grey metal money box, a list on a clipboard, and a thick roll of red tickets blocking their way.

Behind the table was a very bored and disgruntled Mrs. Marsh, who blandly spoke, "Five dollars each."

Before Sylvia could even unclip her little purse open, a black-sleeved hand reached out with a crisp ten dollar bill pinched in it paid the unhappy entrance keeper.

The English teacher sighed, "Go on in, have fun."

Then she continued to grumble on about how she hated dances and loud music.

They pushed through a wall of thin silvery streamers. Or more, Todd pulled aside the streamers so she could walk in without lifting her hands. She couldn't help but think how chivalrous he was. Within the darkened gym, colored lights were spiraling, flashing, and strobing. The music was pounding loudly from the giant system of speakers surrounding the DJ's table. Except for the few whom were tired, talking, or dateless along the walls, everyone was rhythmically moving to the pace of the beating song. Plenty of girls were simply bumping and grinding with they're boyfriends…or secretly with another male when their boyfriends were at the snack table. Todd could help but find this lot to be very morally lax.

They found their way over to the small group of dancing girls and one guy that happened to be Caroline, Rebecca, Erin, and Jerry. Caroline seemed to be trying to pull a very shy Erin out of her safe and goody-goody shell and make her dance like everyone else was. Jerry on the other hand was trying to teach Rebecca how to swing dance until Erin returned.

Sylvia just shook her head, "This is the kind of people I put my trust in."

Then she just began laughing. Todd couldn't help but like it. Her giggle was just so light-hearted, he couldn't help but smile.

A new song began pulsing around the room. Everyone's dancing restarted to a new beat. There were still quite a few people who couldn't keep themselves for constantly peering over to Todd and Sylvia. It had been the first time anyone brought someone with that significant of an age difference as a date. Not only that, Todd was very, very handsome. So he was bound to draw a few eyes. He made one linger for a moment with a dark stranger.

Todd studied the way Sylvia moved when she danced. Her motions were always so delicate and fluid. It was like she wasn't even a tangible human being. She was far too perfect to have been born upon this earth. He was lost in the way her slender figure slowly bent, curved, and spun. Todd seemed to completely leave unnoticed the fact that he was dancing as well. Sylvia had finally opened her eyes and looked up to her date. She saw that he was watching her intensely. She felt just a tad uncomfortable with his eyes absent mindedly burning into her.

"I'm a little thirsty. If you don't mind Todd, I will just excuse myself for a minute to go get a Diet Pepsi." Sylvia spoke timidly.

Todd held up his hand and gently touched her arm, "Don't trouble yourself, Sylvia. I'll go get it."

With a shared smile he departed for the snack table, which wasn't that easy on a task. It was like winding through a dark jungle with dancing trees and flailing limbs. Eventually, his journey brought him to a table spread with a layer of unassorted pop cans. He saw that he wasn't the only one searching for a soda. Caroline was picking up and setting down every can that was not of her search. Todd caught her attention and smiled.

"Hi, Todd." She approached him with a can of Sprite, "How are you doing so far?"

He nodded, being a man of few words, "Fine, fine."

Caroline spoke as she cracked her soda open, "Um, I wanted to thank you for saving me and Sylvia. I doubt that we could have handled that situation ourselves."

Todd looked over to where Sylvia was talking to Rebecca, "I hate seeing someone being downsized or taken advantage of wrongly. It's just in my nature."

Caroline took a loud sip of her fizzy soda, "So…what do you think of her?"

She had that look in her eyes as though she was prying for a secret. Todd didn't see the harm in sharing his opinion.

"Personally, I think she is wonderful and very beautiful. Just by being with her in such short of a time, I can tell that she is very kind. I bet that she is perfect in every way."

"Not really," Caroline looked over to Sylvia, who was now learning from Erin how to swing dance.

Todd was a bit taken by the simple comment. He responded, "How is that?"

Caroline took another sip of Sprite, "Well, Sylvia never was much of an athlete. I think the only thing she is good at is running. As for cooking, she could probably burn water (that's what my dad told me about my mom !). She falls down the stairs at least once a month. In eighth grade, she failed her Algebra exam. And when she yawns, she sounds like she's yawning and burping at the same time. Not to mention she's the hiccup queen."

This was quite a list for Todd to take in. As soon as their quick conversation was wrapped up, Todd grabbed a Diet Pepsi and made his way over to where Sylvia was waiting for him. But there was his trail was halted when a strong hand grabbed him on the shoulder and yanked him forcefully backwards. The can of Diet Pepsi nearly tumbled from his hand with the back lash of being suddenly pulled the other way. The hand turned him around roughly and Todd saw who it was who apprehended him. Whoever the boy was, he did not look very content. His eyes were fuming and his breaths were deep and ominous. He had dirty blonde hair and glaring blue eyes that seemed as though the pupils were far too small for such a dimly lit room. He was dressed in baggy black pants with white stripes down the side and a white T shirt that read _Driveway Basketball Legends. _For some reason, this boy had a problem to pick at with Todd.

"That girl you're dancin' with," he motioned over to Sylvia, "She's mine. Get lost."

Todd's responsive tone was a cruel combination of mocking and pity, "If that were the case at hand, I don't believe that she would have extended her invitation for this dance to me, now would she?"

The boy had a very slight southern dialect to his tone. But it didn't matter right now. Todd had just made a fool of him and he wasn't going to take that lightly, "Shut up you damn punk!"

The angered boy threw his clenched fist towards Todd's stomach. But his target was simply too fast. Instead of ducking, Todd jumped high into the air, above the punch and planted his feet onto the boy's shoulders. From there, he sprung from his platform, flipped once in the air, and landed nimbly without a stumble. He continued his honest path to his lovely date, knowing that his opponent had been left dumbstruck. A few people who witnessed the display were clapping. Unfortunately, Mrs. Mickum, the dance chaperone, wasn't pleased with the display of outrageousness. Before they knew it, the offensive boy and Todd were told to leave before anyone could say _He didn't do anything wrong!_

He handed her the not-quite-as-cold-as-it-was-before can of soda, which she gratefully accepted, "Thank you, Todd."

He smiled. She was so cute. It was only more obvious to him when he started hearing little 'hics' popping up from her after only half the can was sipped down.

"Hic I think I might hic have drank that too f…hic…fast," her cheeks were turning a bit rosy with embarrassment.

Sylvia had agreed to stay with him for the rest of the evening. She had watched how bravely Todd had adverted that fight instead of give in to it. An act of such maturity doesn't go into fault. Now, they were spending the remaining of their two hours until ten o'clock sitting on the park bench with plastic bags of Taco Bell meals in their laps, Sylvia's treat. It was somewhat funny. Todd was munching on his fragile cinnamon twists while Sylvia was already started on her second Bean Burrito Especial. The girl liked her tacos. The sky was the darkest shade of blue and slate with glittering stars sprinkled across the sky. Currently, they were observing the lights of passing cars. The glares of several vehicles hi beams flashing across their place in front of the restaurant, sometimes giving them moments of blindness.

"Hey, Sylvia," Todd gulped down his last crispy bite of cinnamon twist, "What was with that guy that attacked me, anyways?"

With half a burrito left, she swallowed before staring down at it, "Well, it's kind of a painful memory, but I suppose it can't hurt if I tell you."

She took a small sip from her almost empty Diet Pepsi can before dropping it into the bag of discarded Taco bell wrappers, "His name is Connor. For a while, I thought he had a little crush on me. But I found out that it wasn't a crush, it was an obsession. It was actually sort of sickening. Caroline had found out through some source that I was on display in a certain, well, explicit, home-made website. You see, Connor's an artist, and he illustrated a few, um…dirty works of art with me as the focus. I was so embarrassed, and even worse because I didn't have a say in it."

Todd gave a low whistle. He spoke up, "That sounds…really, really terrible."

"To make things simple, he put my face on a playboy bunny girl. I was so embarrassed when I found out exactly how many people at school knew about it. I'm afraid to tell someone." Sylvia spoke before taking another bite from her burrito.

You told me," Todd smiled kindly.

Sylvia looked back, "That's right."

Which a final, almost inhalement of her dinner, she stood up and threw her bag of garbage into the grey public trash can,

Then she returned to Todd with a returning smile of care, "I guess I trust you."

Todd walked beside Sylvia, standing a whole head taller that her. When they stood aligned, it was really quite amazing to see two completely different looking people in each other's company. One, tall, dark, mysterious, and handsome yet secretive and looking more like a vampire than a hero of the night; the other looking more like the human embodiment of a pink rose that belonged nowhere but in the eternal sunshine with lovely features and a delicate set of motions.

"Um, Sylvia, I'm really sorry that I ruined your night, but there wasn't much I could have done." Todd scratched the back of his head.

But she didn't seem angry at all. Sylvia just readjusted the purse strap over her shoulder and continued her soft smile, "It's nothing to apologize over. It wasn't your fault or anything. I just wish that there was something we could do to pass the time."

An idea immediately came to Todd's head, "Well, it may not be the dance you had in mind, but I know where we can go."

He grabbed her hand and pulled began a steady quickened pace, pulling Sylvia along with him. She almost stumbled to the ground a few times, but Todd was always ready to catch her if she ever fell. When there was a short break in the traffic, the two would dash across the paved roads. After another stretch of sidewalk to run along, Todd finally came to a halt.

"Here we are…" he panted lightly.

The Maiden of Light: Okay, okay, this might not be very eventful, but because of how much I have to do and how long it takes, I decided to make a second part to this chapter. Schedule has returned with a vengeance and I'm terrified. Please review!


	5. The Night We Danced part 2

Sylvia and Todd stood before the façade of a nicely lit restaurant, the girl a little short of breath. The place was of brownish-pink bricks and had neatly trimmed rose bushes in the front. The outdoor lights were illuminating a fancy wooden sign for the _Azul Miercoles_ (Spanish for Blue Wednesday). It seemed like a rather expensive restaurant with the people coming in were dressed in fine attires of suits and evening margarita dresses.

"Um, Todd," Sylvia pipped up, "Is this one of those really pricy Mexican restaurants?"

Todd only smirked, "Not even close."

With those words, he took her by the hand and they marched up the stone stairs to the entryway. Once they passed through the front doors, Sylvia gave the place a wide-eyed look. It didn't seem to be a fancy place to eat. Even though there was a bar and the smell of hamburgers, steaks, and such coming from the kitchen, most of the place consisted of a dance floor and the large square of little round tables outlining it. Right now, most of the people on the shining hardwood floor were salsa dancing. The music radiating from the DJ room was quite exotic, due to the fact that Sylvia had never heard it before in her life.

Todd led her to a small, round, stone tile table that was adorned with a lit votive candle in a classy black steel holder and a matching slender vase with a two red carnations resting in it. There were no plates, napkins, silverware, waiters, or menus, which didn't really matter, anyways. After all, they just ate a little while ago. Before Sylvia could reach for her seat, Todd had already swept it out from under the table and chivalrously held out his hand for her to take a seat. No words really needed to pass between them, as smiles and kind faces always did. It amazed her how differently he acted compared to what she had observed from other male specimens. It seemed all the guys at her school with a lady in his life were constantly acting like a macho man instead of a gentleman.

After she was comfortably seated Todd took his place across the table from her. Sylvia gazed as the flickered candle between them cast dancing shadows over Todd's already dark face. He on the other hand was mindfully watching upon the pinkish flush that was building up at her cheeks, that and wondering why she was staring at him. But of course he had to wrestle with his inner self for a moment.

_She's cute, isn't she?_

Yes, he sighed, But there is something about her that makes me feel so…

_Love struck?_

Yes, I mean No! No, not love struck, but, like I've met her before.

_True. She does look familiar. Familiar…and hot!_

Will you cut that out!

_**He's got a point you know?**_

Hey, butt out! I'm trying to hold a conversation with my less persuasive conscious!

_**Sheesh! Someone's having a bad day!**_

_No he's just frustrated because he feels so stupid._

Why do I feel stupid?

_Because your date is staring at you with a very confused look._

WHAT!

Todd snapped back into reality with Sylvia staring at him in an awkward way. This was a particularly tense moment.

But things seemed to simmer back into calmness once she smiled, "You tend to zone out quite a bit, don't you?"

First he looked to the table, then the dance floor, then to the ceiling, then to her, then one of his less than desired conscious took over, "Well, I'm sure any guy would if they were on a date with someone as pretty as you."

Todd's eyes grew very wide after the words escaped his lips. To prevent anymore, he slapped his hand over his mouth. But Sylvia was silent for a few seconds, a few agonizing seconds to Todd, becoming suspenseful to what her next response would be. She just giggled. It wasn't the kind of giggle that seemed more of a sinister snicker. But it was the lighthearted laugh of a girl who saw the cheap pick up line as more of a spirit swelling joke than something deserving to be sneered or snickered at. All in all, she found him to be very charming.

A moderate tempo beat of swinging drums caught the ears and attention of the pair. Many couples were taking their place on the floor as the song began. Todd looked to Sylvia and her to him.

"Do you want to dance?" they said in unison.

"Sure," they both responded.

Todd took Sylvia's hand delicately and they stood up together. Sylvia couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated by the rest of the dancers out on the polished wooden floor. They all were so much older that her and walked out with a confident stride. And even in a place where nobody knew her, she certainly didn't want to do something that would embarrass her.

"Ready to swing?" Todd slightly raised the hands they had joined.

Sylvia replied with an excited smile and soft words, "You bet."

They began their dance. Todd was always careful never to step on her delicate toes. But when he twirled her around, he was mesmerized by the way she moved. Her hair followed her rotations, her eyes gently closed, and her dress caught in the wind of the spin and fluttered up a tiny bit. All her weight was perfectly balanced to her feet. She was, without a doubt, taught how to swing dance. Todd couldn't believe how easily could move to the tempo of the music on every beat. Well, she did tell him earlier in the night that she was a drummer in the school band. But this was so much different, dancing with Sylvia was like dancing across the smooth silky surface of an undisturbed lake at night and never worrying about suddenly falling into the water. One particular dance move the Todd had been waiting patiently to try was when he caught Sylvia after a quick spin, then smoothly and romantically dip her down towards the floor, but her never took his eyes off her. It was like he just couldn't, they shimmered with excitement. At least he knew she was having a good time dancing with him.

As anything, the song finally ended. But the music wasn't over. The words and the tune simmered down into a peaceful melody and ballad. Most of the dancers remained on the floor, only to enjoy a soothing and slower song after the exertion of the last dance. Every closed the voids between them and their partners in a lovely soft slow dance.

_Have I told you lately that I love you?_

_Have I told you there's no one else above you?_

_Fill my heart with gladness_

_take away all my sadness_

_Ease my troubles that's what you do_

Todd held out his hand in semi prayer that Sylvia would take it. With a somewhat playful accent of an English gentleman, he spoke, "My lovely Miss Sylvia, would you honor me with this dance?"

Her lips curved into a gentle smile as she laid her hand upon his offering one, "I will be most grateful."

_For the morning sun in all it's glory_

_Greets the day with hope and comfort too_

_You fill my life with laughter_

_and somehow you make it better_

_Ease my troubles that's what you do_

_There's a love that's divine_

_And it's yours and it's mine like the sun_

_And at the end of the day_

_We should give thanks and pray_

_To the one, to the one_

Sylvia delicately laid her wrists on Todd's shoulders as he placed his hands around her waist. Their unison motion swayed gently from side to side. The disco ball hanging from the ceiling rotated slowly, casting patterns of pale lights all over the room. But when they drifted across Sylvia's face and shoulders, Todd could see the tiny shimmering mist of sweat clinging to her porcelain skin. Perhaps it was good that this slow dance finally gave her a break.

_Have I told you lately that I love you?_

_Have I told you there's no one else above you?_

_Fill my heart with gladness_

_Take away all my sadness_

_Ease my troubles that's what you do_

"Thanks for taking me here, Todd." A soft expression played across her relaxed face.

Todd gave her the same look, "I'm glad I was the lucky man to take you. I was afraid that you were going to feel awkward the entire night. After all, it's not like I am the same age as you. So I'm happy that you're happy."

Sylvia's lips curled into a smile and she pulled herself into Todd's warm arms, wrapping her own around the back of his neck snuggly. He tightened the hold around her lower back to hold her closely as she rested the side of her head against his chest. Sylvia could hear the gentle beats of his heart beneath his black dress shirt. They were so soft and punctual like any other human being. They pulsed at the same tempo as the song they were dancing to.

_There's a love that's divine_

_And it's yours and it's mine like the sun_

_And at the end of the day_

_We should give thanks and pray_

_To the one, to the one_

As the two slowly rotated in their slow dance, Todd watched as the lights of the disco ball skimmed over Sylvia's bare shoulders. He detected a slight shimmer on her shoulders. Her skin was lightly traced with tiny crystals of sweat from the swing dance. Kind of like a flower. A lovely pink rose with petals kissed by the morning dew. There was also a colorful flush of rose to her tinted cheeks. She was beautiful.

Sylvia held him closely as they rocked gently back and forth to the soft rhythm of the song. His arms around her were so cooled to relief her of her heat, but yet the embrace was so comfortably warm. It was so perfect. Every once in a while she would sneak a peek at his face. His cheeks were quite smooth and defined, but his skin appeared both sickly pale but so silky like cream. The way his bangs fell over his eyes a bit only made her want to look into his magnificent green eyes even more. His eyes were a whole other story. They were hypnotic the way they gazed. The way the outer rim of those emerald discs slowly faded from forest green to lush leaf green in the center, punctured by the deep black circle in the middle. But had to remember to look away eventually, or else she would be caught staring. When she closed her eyes, she probably could have fallen asleep.

_And have I told you lately that I love you_

_Have I told you there's no one else above you?_

_You fill my heart with gladness_

_Take away my sadness_

_Ease my troubles that's what you do_

_Take away all my sadness_

_Fill my life with gladness_

_Ease my troubles that's what you do_

_Take away all my sadness_

_Fill my life with gladness_

_Ease my troubles that's what you do_

The ticking hands of Ned's silver pocket watch read 9:49 p.m. Without a ride to take them home, it seemed like they had a little ways to walk. The whole path home was lit by overhead street lamps, and the common traffic of Friday night cars. But the brightest light was yet to be seen.

Ned and Sylvia walked back to the suburb neighborhoods beside each other. It was a good streets worth of distance to the little residents area. There was a slight awkward silence between the two for a minute or so.

"Oh my," Sylvia halted and looked up, "I've never seen the moon so bright in a long time."

The two stood there and gazed upon the blaring white orb of mystical light in the dark night sky it drifted before. The moon cast an uncommonly radiant shine all over the tangible land. Todd noted the sparkle it left in Sylvia's gazing eyes.

He spoke, "Tonight is the night of the harvest moon. Back in the civil war days, farmers would take advantage of the bright light and do their harvesting after the sun went down. But it only came every so often."

Sylvia nodded, "That's what my mom told me. She said that before I was born, she and my dad used to lye out in the hammock after sunset and watch the lunar flowers open up when the harvest moon came out."

With those words, they continued their journey back to Sylvia's home.

"Mom, I'm home." Sylvia called into the house once she and Todd passed through the door.

Believe it or not, Todd was rather nervous that Sylvia's mother would disapprove of him, kick him out the door, and give Sylvia the lecture of her life about selecting dates. He had heard about this many times. The good, sweet, and innocent young ladies always seem to have a strict and merciless set of parents behind them. The last thing he needed was anything that could make Sylvia unhappy.

"Hi Sylvie," she hugged her daughter tenderly, "How was your night?"

Sylvia responded into the hug, "I had a lot of fun tonight."

A slightly aged women came around the corner of the kitchen dressed in relaxed blue jeans and a grey sweatshirt. Her dark brown hair, much like the color of Sylvia's, was pulled into a loose bun. She peered over her thin copper rimmed glasses at the young man standing beside her daughter. She had the same eyes as Sylvia but her complexion was far warmer. Sylvia on the other hand was naturally pale. She greeted Todd was a smile.

"Why, hello there." Sylvia's mother held out her hand for Todd to shake, "You must have been Sylvia's date. My name is Mrs. Colt, but you can just call me…"

Todd immediately latched his arms around Sylvia's mother and held her tightly.

"Rosie." he squeaked.

She looked bewildered.

"Squee?"

The Maiden of Light: I know what you're thinking. Why is it taking her so long to write a single chapter! I'll tell you why! I'm taking drivers ed. (two years late I might add.) Exams start soon. The church is pulling me into a lot of volunteer tympani playing for morning mass. I actually have a boyfriend believe it or not. I'm obsessed with video games. I'm trying to write and draw a comic book. And some idiot from my school needs me to make the CD cover for his little garage band. Why!


	6. Love Hurts Literally

It wasn't long before Todd and Sylvia became as thick as thieves. Todd was always welcomed over for tea after Sylvia was released from school at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Walks around the lake and sharing stories of memories past were becoming common. Todd never seemed to turn down lending Sylvia a hand when she was tending to her luscious vegetable and flower gardens. But he could never defeat Sylvia in a game of Immortal Combat of the Doom Cows on Play Station 2. But Todd never admitted to letting her have it easy, he was too busy grinding his teeth during a losing cause. Within a single month, they had become good friends.

Sylvia tossed her backpack on a chair pulled out from the kitchen table as soon as she got home. The floor was polished as her hard efforts last evening had kept it after waxing it. It looked as though her mother had done the dishes for her today.

She called out into the house, "Mom, I'm home."

She was replied with silence. Before she opened the refrigerator, she noticed a little pale yellow sticky note on the door

_Had to fill in for Brenda at work. I'll be home at 9. _

She crumpled up the note and tossed the wadded paper ball into the trash can so it would not clutter her nice clean counter tops. Sylvia took pride in how neat and tidy her kitchen was with the combined efforts of her and her mother. She turned on the light over head the kitchen table. The sun outside was fading fast into the gray clouds of an approaching rainstorm. The first droplets of rain were beginning to tap at her windows. The gentle rumble of soft rolling thunder grumbled in the distance. Sylvia went up to the window and rested her forehead and fingers against the cold glass. She closed her eyes and sighed.

_Well, at least I don't have to water the gardens or hang out the laundry. _

Her minded drifted into the image of a certain ebony-haired man she knew. The thought of Todd or Squee as her mother calls him, always made her smile. But she made it an effort to avoid developing a sense of infatuation for him. She knew what would happen. It always made sense in the end. A handsome man and an average high school girl can never be. Not when without a doubt girls were secretly drooling for him, and night I add, more womanly and mature girls. Todd was dark and mysterious, but not a romantic. And she wasn't anything to stare over. Her curves were born modest and stayed that way. Her skin will never be as tan or healthy golden as some of her more outgoing classmates. And her clothes were nothing special. She was plain, and nothing more. Men like Todd don't fall for the peacocks with the least shiny of feathers.

But there were a few things about Todd that Sylvia couldn't help but adore. Not only was he very handsome for being so shadowy, but his heart seemed to be different than his looks. He actually smiled quite a bit and made funny faces when she was sad. He would give her both heart warming hugs and yanks on her pigtails. But sometimes his voice was all it took to find out what he was like. It would change from deep and smooth with mystery to sounding more like a cartoon character. There were quite a few instances when Sylvia would have to give herself a mental slap for imaging him and her engaging in relationship-type activities like hugging and kissing and saying 'I love you.' But it always seemed to quicken her heartbeat with the thought of looking deep into Todd's endless green eyes.

Sylvia's ears pricked when the sound of a tiny squeak like rubber against glass awoke her. Her eyes flashed open, she found herself looking directly into the same green eyes she imaging through the glass. Something about this gave her a little start and she tumbled backwards. But that all ended with a nice whack to the back of the head by hitting the corner of a countertop. Then she saw black.

The clock read 3:58 when she last saw it before dozing off against the window glass. But when her eyes slowly reopened and adjusted to the blur of her subconscious sleep. But the numbers of the analog clock pushing through the veil of blurriness read 5:03 pm. But it wasn't the same clock she saw before. The kitchen clock is digital. She was now in the living room, which was dimly lit by a snaking fire. She was grateful, because after hitting your head rather hard on a stone countertop, your eyes would be sensitive too.

Sylvia attempted to sit up. But when she curled up her back to lean forward, a pair of arms across her chest gently pulled her back down.

A familiar voice sounded behind her, "I wouldn't do that. You took a really good cluck to the back of your head."

Sylvia craned her neck back as far as it would allow seeing Todd's slightly concerned but still cheering face. She now saw that she was wrapped up in a fleece blanket and lying across the couch, while Todd was sitting with one leg running parallel with her body on the couch and the other on the floor with his arms wrapped around her protectively.

He spoke again, "I'm really sorry I scared you. But I saw you in the window and you were frowning. I thought you were sad, so I though giving you a little spook would make you laugh. I see that _that_ wasn't a good idea."

She silently nodded, but she still smiled. Her hears were then preoccupied by the crackling and popping of the warm fire. The back of her head was still throbbing a bit. Usually something that helped was humming.

Todd then heard a soft sound coming from Sylvia's resting form. She was humming a gentle lullaby that he could not mistake for being one of the many that Rose sang to him when she would tuck him into bed.

He spoke up, "Rose, do you think you could sing that song for me? I've always wanted to hear it one more time."

_When day turns into night_

_And there's no one left to fight_

_I will promise to be true_

_Wielding a sword_

_And standing next to you_

_And when one of us is gone_

_At the early break of dawn_

_I will look back to the thing_

_That made me strong_

_And gave me wings_

_I just wanted you to know_

_That no matter where we go_

_Whether we are near or apart_

_We'll always be together_

_Hear in my heart_

There was no response when Sylvia finished her song. She had at least expected Todd to tell her when he had first heard the song. She gazed up to his relaxed face. He was asleep.

_Well, that was fast._

Her eyes were slowly becoming tired after staring into the receding flames and the dimming embers. Sylvia looked at the clock above the mantle one more time. It read 6:48 in the afternoon. The sky outside was dark and lightless with the exception of random intervals of lightning flashes with roll of deep thunder accompanying it. It was becoming a difficult struggle to keep her eyes open. With a final, soft sigh, she slipped into sleep.

Little did she know, one of Todd's eyes opened secretively. A smile crept across his face as he gently slid his arms out from embracing her to slipping one under her back and the other under the hinge of her knees. With a smooth and slow motion, he picked her up bridal style and carefully carried her into her bedroom, being most cautious as to not wake her. Transferring her into one strong arm, she pulled the fluffy white comforter over and delicately set her onto the bed. With almost parental-like tenderness, he tuckered her in, fluffed the pillow beneath her head, and snuck an obvious hand-sewn doll of a white cat in a cute pink dress under her arm for company. Todd leaned over her and placed a gentle goodnight kiss on her forehead. Without a sound, he was out of the room, and out of the house. Sylvia merely slept.

The Maiden of Light: This one may have been a little short. But that is because since time is not of my side, I don't want tot spend a month on a regular chapter and would rather spend a week or so on a slightly smaller one. I hope this is okay with you guys. And I apologize for the little Ned typo in the last chapter. I was discussing my last story on the phone with someone while typing the new one. Not a good idea. Oh well. Read, review, and run for your life! dives out the window


	7. Conversations over Some Truth

Sylvia's blurred vision slowly pushed through the fogginess of waking up. The first thing she saw was the bright blue morning sky and the lush rustling leaves of the elm tree outside the window. Her head turned to the other way, seeing the vivid red digital numbers of the alarm clock. They read 7:59 a.m. She sat up in bed, letting her fluent locks of shiny brown hair drape over her shoulders and back, one or two smaller pieces over her face. Sylvia took in the surroundings of her room. The floor was hardwood and covered by a medium sized cream-colored rug. The walls were painted greenish beige and the windows framed in white. Her cedar unit shelves were still neatly crammed with books, binders, folders, and stacks of paper. The desk and black wheeled chair remained in their proper places in the corner. The pale gold sunbeams of the fully risen sun were pouring into the room.

She attempted to recall the events that took place in her dream, but the details were quickly slipping away with every second she strayed from her sleep.

_She was no where near her home. For that matter, she had no idea where she was. Sylvia remembered herself to be wearing an innocent yet elegant white dress. The soft material wrapped her forearms snuggly, leaving her creamy shoulders and neck to be seen purely. She felt like a princess from a fairy tale in it. But where she was, a princess did not belong. There were tall and ominous black trees surrounding her under the dead night sky. The moon peered through, being her only light. _

_Snap._

_She turned. The sound of a breaking branch came from an unwelcoming thicket behind her. There appeared two threatening and glaring red eyes. They simply stared at Sylvia with bloodthirsty determination. With a rift of panic, Sylvia takes a dash in the opposite direction. Her bare feet pounded against the hard dirt path that took her away from the eyes, but not from her fear. A few branches smacked at her armed she ran. And overwhelming sense of fear was taking over her. The situation didn't really look that scary, but there was a dark feeling of unnatural dread welling up within her. Her breath quickened and her pounding heart created an ache her chest. She could even feel the tears pulling at her eyes. Her beautiful white gown was already ripped at the end. _

_Suddenly, as Sylvia was looking over her shoulder, she collided with something very solid. But at the same time, it was quite soft. A pair of thin arms wrapped around her. Because they lacked the feel of skin, the hands were obviously gloved. She raised her eyes to gaze upon the face of her barrier. The deep emerald eyes of Todd locked with her own. He was holding her tightly as if to protect her. The soft glides of wind gently stroked his black hair away from his face. _

_His perfect lips separated as he spoke, "I promise. Nothing will ever hurt you as long as you are in my arms."_

_Todd closed his eyes and his head bowed to meet the lips of the young and surprised Sylvia. _

Then, she awoke. Her tight clenched fist rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Sylvia pulled the downy white comforter blanket off her legs and swung them off the bed. Her long slender legs were a tad bit wobbly, like they were every morning. The door to her bedroom squeaked loudly as she pulled it open and wandered out into the hallway. The growling stomach within her was already steering her in the direction of the kitchen. Not to her surprise, mother was already standing before the stove and tending to a pair of sausage and green pepper omelets. Sylvia noticed that the two halves of an egg bagel were toasting way in the toaster.

She spoke in a dreary morning tone, "Morning, mom."

Rose, who already knew she was there, continued flipping omelets, "Morning Sylvie."

Sylvia took a seat at the kitchen table and stared blankly down at the polished, slightly scratched hardwood, "Hey mom, what happened yesterday?"

Rose brought the frying pan over to the table and heaped one of the omelets onto her plate, "Well, yesterday, after I got home…"

"And that's what happened," Sylvia said to Caroline.

The two girls were driving into town with the leather hood lowered.

A smile played across Caroline's face, "Wow, you struck gold Sylvia. A handsome guy that practically belongs in the matrix, can dance, and tucks you in after tending to your bump on the head. I wish I ran after him the night he saved us."

Sylvia was smiling too. But Todd wasn't her guy. He was just her friend. He didn't seem to be pursuing a loving relationship. So it only seemed right to call him her friend, despite the massive overwhelming crush she had on him. She didn't tell her best friend about the collection of romantic dreams she has involving Todd.

Caroline's clean white convertible pulled into a rather small parking lot. Both the girls grabbed their tote bags and Caroline folded the hood back over the car. By the way a few darker clouds were beginning to roll over the blue afternoon sky, you could never be too careful. The two entered a clean cut tan building through the double doors under the white letters spelling 'Silver Cloud Spa'.

"Hi, Francis!" Caroline said in a giddy fashion as she walked up to the elderly man with gray hair and half-moon spectacles behind the counter.

He smiled, revealing a silver tooth, "Why, Hello little Miss Caroline. How has your dad been doing?"

"Great," She spoke, "Well, we're off for a day of relaxation."

Caroline and Sylvia walked pass the counter with smiles on their faces. Francis called out, "You girls have fun."

Sylvia was always quite thankful that she had a friend whose family owned a line of spas. Caroline had to be the second richest person in the school. The first was their rival who shall remain without a name. But right now, the time was for a well deserved girls' day out after suffering through a week of mid term exams. The building was quite nice without a doubt. The floors were painted like white and black marble and the walls were a modest forest green. Paintings of relaxing realistic and abstract scenes hung from the walls in golden frames. They passed several glass doors until they reached the solid wooden one with the words 'Ladies Locker Room' in gold letters on it. Sylvia and Caroline entered and changed into their bathing suits for a long soak in the bath. They re emerged into the hall, Sylvia in a modest but bright pink one piece and Caroline in a flashy blue bikini with lighter blue swirls patterned on it.

The bath room was humungous. It had an oriental style to it. There was a large set of cubicle shelves painted red and set with a roof to look like a Chinese pagoda. Even a small waterfall poured from a jumbled tower of smooth rocks into a small fountain in the corner. The hot spring was shallow all over, but there were different heights on the seating ledges that lined the bath. If you didn't want to share the large stone tub with everyone, there were several smaller baths off to the side. Since the room was empty, except for one lady who seemed to be fast asleep soaking in the hot water, the girls decided to sit in the large bath. Caroline just stepped right in like the intense heat of the fiery water was nothing. But Sylvia needed to dip her toe in to test the warmth, withdraw it once, try again, and slip her whole foot slowly into the water. With quite a while of slowing sitting down to adjust to the heat, the two were finally settled. Sylvia had her hair tied up in am elegant bun and Caroline's light blonde hair dangled only an inch above her shoulders. Both sighed in unison with the relaxation of sitting carelessly in a huge oriental hot spring of steaming water.

Caroline was the first to speak, "So, does your head still hurt? I know what it feels like to smack your head on something really hard."

Sylvia turned to her with curious eyes, "You do?"

She laughed, "Yeah, in summer league softball back in fifth grade, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Allison Cory was practicing swing her bat and accidentally clocked me in the back of the head."

Sylvia gave a cringing hiss of imaging what that must have felt like, "Oh, ouch. She has quite a swing too by what I hear."

"Old wounds heal. It's not like she gave me brain damage."

"True. But still, ouch!"

"Anyways, tell me, how has Todd been treating you?"

Sylvia looked away from one moment. Talking about Todd was a rather touchy subject to her. She wanted Caroline to believe that she and he were only friends. A crush was something she wasn't going to let out so soon. It was rather difficult, "Fine, fine."

Caroline rolled her eyes, "How many dreams have you fantasized about him kissing you?"

"What!" Sylvia's faced turned an unpleasant shade of crimson and the hot bathwater wasn't helping to make her look calm.

"You know what I mean," her sneaky friend pried, "Every time I bring him up you blush. You used to sit with your arms folded. Now you sit with her hands together and fingers laced like you miss holding his hand. Every time he walks away for a moment, you look like you're about to chase after him. You like him. You like Todd!"

There was a moment of silence followed by the interruption of a loud snort from the sleeping woman on the other side of the bath.

Sylvia, looking down into the water with her head hung low, muttered her soft response, "It's true."

Caroline squealed, "I knew it! I just knew it!"

"Please don't tell him," Sylvia pleaded with bright hopeful eyes.

"I promise. Your secret is safe with me."

"Thanks Caroline."

Than the two friends sat in the warm water of contentment and watched the curling rise of steam from the smooth and lucid surface of the water.

The Maiden of Light: There you go. Well, exams are over, Coming Home has passed, and my mom isn't hogging the computer all the time. I think things are starting to look up from here. Read, review, and ruuuuumbbbblllleeee! heavy weight wrestlers jump out and tackle some guy in a lobster suit


	8. The First Pain: Enter Mikori

Just a little note to you all, Johnny will come into the story later on. I just wanted to assure you that it's not all Squee and Sylvia.

Caroline and Sylvia left the Silver Cloud Spa with smiles on their faces and a rejuvenated sense of spirit. Soaking in a little warm water for an hour, playing a game of indoor Wally ball (Sort of like volley ball only the ball is a little harder, smaller, and there is no room from the ball to fall out, you play off the walls), and enjoying a pair of strawberry smoothies really made them feel a world better.

They piled their tote bags containing wet towels and swimsuits into the back seat of the convertible. But they decided to leave the cover on. The sky still looked a little shaky about whether or not it will rain. The girls smoothly turned around and rolled out of the parking lot and into the street. Since their body temperatures had risen a bit, both agreed to lower their windows. Sylvia always loved the feeling of cool wind blowing through her hair. The street took them through their rather quaint little city of a town. It was too big to be just a town, but that's what they called it. There were rows of little shops and restaurants with cafes and a park out off to the side. There was even a guy with an old fashioned Ice Cream cart that rolled around in the quiet little park by the playground. Something caught Sylvia's eye.

"Hey, Caroline, want to stop in the park. I was told that Albert carries Dip n, Dots now."

With those three special words, Caroline quickly whipped the car into an open space parallel to the street closed to the park. Sylvia used the excuse of trying to enjoy the day before it begins to rain; Caroline on the other hand would kill for a cup of cotton candy flavored dip n' dots. Either way, the two friends strolled calmly across the lush growing greens of the Whitmore Lake Park. On sunny days, there would have been waving shadows cast by the sunlight falling through the branches of the stately elm trees. The soft pink chrysanthemums would be blooming in bright glory and there would be a lot more children running around on the playground. But today it was almost empty and the lack of sunshine gave the park a less cheery feel.

Their trip ended once they reached the man pushing a red and gold ice cream cart down the sidewalk near the edge, "Good afternoon Mr. Lambert."

The kind man smiled. His eyes were covered by sunglasses, "Hello girls. Whatcha in the market for?"

"Caroline eagerly whipped out a five dollar bill, "Two Dip n' Dots! Cotton Candy and chocolate."

With a slightly surprised look on how intense this girl's need for the plastic cups of jet frozen capsules of ice cream were, he took the bill and in exchange pulled two cups of Dip n' Dots from his cart. Caroline snatched her cotton candy flavored ice cream while Sylvia asked for two spoons. The two girls strolled away. Caroline's ice cream was practically being ravaged at the rate she ate it in comparison to Sylvia's tiny polite bites of chocolate. Caroline didn't even notice the strawberry shortcake crumble ice cream bar Sylvia had slipped in her pocket, praying it wouldn't melt in time. The object of her attention still hadn't moved from its position and the two walked subconsciously closer to it along their sidewalk path. Sylvia waited for the right moment to act.

"Look over there," Sylvia pointed over to an occupied park bench halfway across the park lawn. A tall dark figure was sitting peacefully on the bench with an open book in his lap and his eyes scanning over the words. Her path was immediately altered to his direction. An achieving smile spread across her face as she neared him.

"Hello Todd!" Sylvia called out. He turned his face towards her and smiled kindly, acknowledging her presence. She fished around in the pocket of her denim jacket for the ice cream bar as she confronted him. But something new appeared in this picture.

"I got the ice cream, Todd." A new woman approached Todd like she was his girlfriend.

She certainly did try to look womanly. Her hair was jet black but not the least bit shiny, as if she dyed her short hair. It was a little longer in the front than in the back and her even level bangs stopped at her eyebrows. She was rather pale and her eyes were outlined in so much dark makeup, she look like she hadn't slept in years. Her pouty lips had been painted a dark blood red, the same color as her long fingernails. Her clothes consisted of a very, very short red skirt that should forbid her from sitting or bending over, a low cut black tank top that revealed her stomach and a lot of cleavage, and a fine mesh long sleeve shirt to cover over it. The thigh-high fishnet stockings she wore squeezed her legs a little more than they should have; making the bare leg above it look like it was bulging. Her strappy crimson heels had to have been at least three inches tall with plenty of silver buckles. She had to have been nineteen or twenty years old. The woman was holding a vanilla ice cream cone and a strawberry shortcake crumble ice cream bar.

She looked at Sylvia and Caroline, "Are these little sisters of yours?"

Sylvia's face turned very red.

_Little sister! We look nothing alike YOU STUPID SCANK!_

Her inner self was screaming but she gave herself a mental slap for thinking such a mean thing to say about someone she didn't know.

If Caroline would have gotten the chance to speak first, she would have said something like _'Not really. I'm Caroline and this is Todd's girlfriend, Sylvia' _so Sylvia took the chance.

"No, no, no. We're j-just Todd's fri-en-ends." Sylvia stuttered. She felt a terrible emotion swell up in her lungs, like trying to fight tears without knowing.

Todd gave her a slight smile. He could see her pained look, but didn't understand why. He didn't know her reasoning that well. Sylvia cared about Todd, even if he didn't seem to love her the same way. The least she could do is let him choose the girl he likes.

"Okay then. Todd and I were just laughing about the fact that both of us come here for ice cream. Mr. Lambert always has vanilla in stock for me." She smiled a cheesy smile. Her tone of voice sounded like it belonged to a valley girl.

"Well," Sylvia turned around to hide the redness tinting her eyes, "Caroline. We better get going. It'll start raining soon.

She didn't even wait for a good bye. She just walked away as soon as she finished her sentence and hoped that Caroline would follow quickly behind. The tears welled up before her eyes, bringing a watery film over her vision. She didn't even notice the look that Todd gave telepathically saying 'Don't leave me here!' As discretely as she could, Sylvia dropped the Strawberry Shortcake Crumble ice cream bar on the green park lawn and began a dash to Caroline's car.

Caroline smiled nervously, "Uh, we're in a really big hurry. Bye."

She tore off for her crying friend. She found Sylvia curled up in the back seat of the convertible with her face hidden under her arms. She was shaking a bit and her sobs became very apparent despite how muffled they were. Caroline opened the car door and took a seat next to Sylvia and stroked her dark chocolate tresses. This seemed to calm Sylvia down every time she cried.

Her choked voice finally spoke but chopped with sobs, "I thought, he, he, he possib-bly could have liked me."

"Um, Mikori, as much as I appreciate you buying me ice cream, I have to go do something now." Todd crumpled up the wrapper to his ice cream bar and pitched it into the wire trashcan beside their bench.

"How about you do something with me instead," she curled her tongue around the ice cream of her vanilla cone and licked it slowly, trying to make it look seductive.

"I have to go," he said blandly. Her brash actions weren't very appealing to him.

Mikori made a reach for his arm, but Todd for saw it and quickly stood up and turned away from her. Without a goodbye, he strolled away.

His fan girl sat there with a washed over look on her face and sighed, "He's so mysterious."

Todd made a quick dash in the direction he saw Sylvia and Caroline go in. But when he looked farther out, there was nothing there. She was already gone. He scorned himself for even giving her a reason he looked possibly interested in some other girl. But it wasn't true. He wasn't always sure that Sylvia shared the same feeling he had for her. Now he was positive. Todd only wished it were a less painful way of finding out. His eyes faded under his long bangs as he bowed his head in shame.

Rose stroked her daughter's hair as she lay curled on her mother's queen sized bed and wrapped up in the silky top blanket like a cocoon. She didn't want to emerge from her little cocoon. Sylvia felt safer in there were no one can hurt her. Her warm petite body was well warmed after a hot shower, a mug of green tea, and putting on her pink flannel pajamas. Her crying had stopped, but her eyes had been red since she first teared up after seeing Todd hanging around with that other girl.

Rose couldn't go silent any further, "Sylvia. I think your mind is too closed up. That can happen when you have a crush like yours."

Sylvia lifted her head from the blankets and gave her mother a questioning look, "What do you mean?"

Rose sighed and began again, "Let me tell you a story about your father. Back when I was babysitting Todd, some man named Ned would visit me and him. One day, your dad saw Ned escorting Todd and I home after sundown. He became so jealous that he thought I didn't love him. When we fall in love with someone and they don't know, we can become unstable when we see them around other people. We become unsure whether they could possibly like us or if they like someone else. It's all in your head. But that girl you saw Todd with could have been anyone; A childhood friend, a distant cousin, someone who needing to hold a conversation. Just because she was around him doesn't mean that he loves her."

After hearing all this, Sylvia felt very dumbfounded and very ashamed of herself. Ashamed for letting herself jump to such a conclusion so fast without even analyzing things first. She wanted to pound her fists against her head and call herself Stupid over and over, but her mother would think that there is something wrong with her. Sylvia was thankful that she had such a smart mom.

"Thanks mom. Good night." Sylvia crawled off her mother's bed and made her way into her own. It was always nice to feel the comfort of her thick fluffy comforter, the cool silky sheets, and the soft breeze of the fan when she went to sleep. Her mother's room was far too warm with the fleece blankets and the bedside heater running. She curled up in a tight bundle and slowly closed her eyes.

_There is still hope…_

Rose scanned the words of her book through the bifocal reading glasses. The small heater hummed beside her bed on the floor. _Tap, tap, tap. _She looked up from her book. There were just those three noises. Her ears pricked for any other sounds. _Tap, tap, tap_. Three sharp taps came from the glass of the window. Rose was hesitant to pull the drapes apart and find what was tapping at her window. But she pulled the blanket off her legs and slid off the bed. With a little fear, she slowly drew apart the long burgundy curtains. She jumped to see a pale face with brilliant green eyes staring at her, her heart practically giving out for a moment.

It was Todd.

Rose unlatched the stoppers and pushed the window up so she could hear him.

She hissed, "Squee? What are you doing at this time of night?"

He was holding on tightly to the ledge of the window that he had hoisted himself up on, lifting his elbow over it for better support.

"Hey, I'm not the only one who used to show up at people's windows at odd times of the night. I suppose I learned it from Johnny." He pulled himself up to see clearly through the window, suspended from the brick ledge.

Rose sighed, "I guess so. What do you need?"

He whispered, "I couldn't sleep. I can't think straight knowing that I could have hurt Sylvia's feelings somehow. Can you tell me if she's okay?"

Rose looked towards the door to making sure her daughter wasn't eavesdropping through narrow open slit in the doorway.

"She should be a little better now. I think she's a bit emotionally confused. Sylvia's never had a crush before…and when she saw that one girl hanging around you, I think she became a little jealous and insecure."

Todd looked down. He really had hurt her feelings, "I feel really bad. I don't want to hurt her. She's so important to me."

Rose spoke, "She truly is. But she will find out soon enough."

_Love is like a flower. It grows and then blooms. Johnny told Squee that once. Now he understands. _

The Maiden of Light: Aww. I felt kinda sorry for Sylvia. We all know what it's like to be scared that the one we like might not feel the same way. Read, review, and roll! -hops in a giant tube and rolls down a steep hill-


	9. The Things We Didn't Know

It had happened that very night. The same night that Sylvia cried on her mother's bed. The night she learned of a tender love's snares. And the night Todd came to Rose's window. It happened, too quickly to prevent.

Rose was fast asleep in her warm soft bed. The bedside heater had retired for the night and she had put down her book and removed her reading glasses for the night. Todd had left her window over an hour ago and she decided that it was time for sleep. But first, before wrapping up in her fleece blanket, she looked up out the window to the shadowy full moon up above and its golden orange color. It wasn't so often that the moon was golden this late into the night. Usually the color wore away about an hour after the sun's last light seceded. So this was quite a surprise to Rose. Then she crawled into bed, and drifted into dreams. Her dreams were always about Johnny. If she had any tears left, she would cry them every once in a while. The night was peaceful, until the house of two was awoken by the sound of glass shattering and a high scream.

Sylvia darted into her mother's bedroom after being startled awake by the loud crash of breaking glass in her mother's room. Without a second thought, Sylvia threw the covers off and ran out of her room. Sylvia wrenched at the doorknob to her mom's door. It was there she remembered that her mother, being the over protective freak that she was, always had her and Sylvia lock their bedroom doors. Sylvia walked back down the hallway. Then, made a dash back and threw her body at the door with the force of an angry bull. The door, surprisingly, broke right off its hinges and tottered off the side.

She burst in, "Mom!"

But all was calm. There was nothing there. Her mother wasn't in bed. The curtains were gently rippling from the broken open window emitting wind into the room. Jagged pieces of glass were reflecting the light of the lucid golden moon upon their angled surfaces. The lights were off. The sounds of cars passing normally down the street sighed their way in. Sylvia carefully edged around the pieces of sharp glass to look out the window, being careful not to rest her hands on the frame of it, with it still being lined with jagged edges that remained attacked to the window. She peered out the opening. Whoever it was that kidnapped her mother, he moved quite fast. All there was outside was the swaying branches of the leafy trees outside and the shadowy light cast by the golden moon.

The police began leaving the scene within Sylvia's home. The oscillating red and blue lights of the police vehicles outside were beginning to secede as the men piled back into their cars and returning to the station. The head investigator had to continue arguing with Sylvia.

"Listen kid, I don't care what you say. There isn't a single finger print that doesn't belong to you or your mother. Except for the window being broken, there is no sign of a struggle. And look at this. Except for a few pieces of glass on the floor that fell off after the glass was broken, most of it is outside on the grass. What ever happened, the glass was broken from inside the house. Your mother locks her door every night, as you said, and it was you who broke down the door."

"I don't know how, but my mom was kidnapped! You have to believe me. I heard her scream in terror!" Sylvia's face was streaked with red and tears.

The officer shook his head, "The only logical explanation for this is that either the kidnapper was hiding in this room the whole time in her underwear drawer and waited for her to lock the door or she snapped and jumped out the window and took off."

Sylvia was finding it more and more difficult to argue with him. Defending her theory that it was an intruder was becoming overshadowed to the police force by the possibility of her mom being insane and running away. But she wouldn't believe it. Sylvia wouldn't accept such an absurd turn of events.

The investigations officer interrupted her thoughts, "Since you are under age, we will have to ask for you to keep residence with some local friends until we have all this sorted out. To be honest, the boys were pretty excited about this. Nothing happens here in Whitmore Lake. Not since all those darn murders years back in the next town over."

Sylvia packed her black wheeled suitcase with her head hung low. As she piled her clothes haphazardly into the case, she kept trying to find a solution. Something _broke out_ of her mother's room. Somehow, her mom was taken by someone sneaky and stealthy. Somehow, the intruder was fast enough to escape the area in the bright revealing light of the golden moon. The meager possibility that her mom simply blew a fuse and jumped out the window does not seem like something Sylvia would take into such quick consideration. When the final hygiene products were tossed into the bag and the case zipped up, she was escorted by a police officer to Caroline's home.

School had been absolute torture. Curious and mocking gazes alike followed her down into every hallway and classroom. Gossipy snickers would echo from gaggles of preppy girls that didn't seem to mind beautiful little Sylvia in so much pain. She appeared as though she hadn't slept in weeks even though Sylvia was punctual for a decent bedtime and always got plenty of rest. The dark shadows below her eyes gave the impression away. Her lunch, which Caroline's mother was kind enough to pack, was barely touched except for taking a few bites off of a stalk of celery and a sip of juice. She was even rudely tripped on her way out of the lunchroom by a particularly sadistic soccer player that dedicated his life to bullying her and her friends.

"Did you hear? Her mother just went insane and jumped out a window."

"I heard she lied to make it sound like her mom was kidnapped."

"My daddy was one of the police officers at the scene. They didn't believe her for a moment."

"What a loser."

Because Sylvia's friends all felt the need to help her, everyone took turns having her over for the night. The last two nights, she spent at Caroline's mansion-like home, tonight and tomorrow she was to stay at Erin's home. Then two nights at Rebecca's home. But she was to spend the weekend at Yoko's apartment. Yoko and Sylvia's mother went way back. Sylvia remembered seeing a picture of her mom and Yoko at a beach in their high school days.

ooooo

"Well, Miss Colt, how much longer until you turn eighteen?" A man with a white collared shirt and a blue tie leaned over a small stack of papers on his desk.

Sylvia timidly spoke, being a little uncomfortable in the situation at the police station, "Um, four months. Has my mom been found?"

The man sighed deeply and leaned back in his wheeled chair. He took off his large glasses before speaking, "Well, I hate to tell you this, but we haven't found your mother yet. But we have found something."

The man then began shuffling through the stack of papers in front of him and pulled on out of the middle, there he began reading it.

"Patient…Rose Colt…age: 25…Diagnosis: Minor cases of anxiety and nervous disorders. Frequent nightmares. Loss of appetite. Sensations of impending doom…"

Sylvia was lost, "This can't possibly mean that my mom was hysterical. Everyone gets nervous sometimes."

He looked at her over his wire rim glasses, "Don't interrupt me Miss Colt. Here is a quote from the patient: I feel like I'm always being watched. There is something in my heart that tells me that something is coming for me and might hurt my daughter. I've had these strange terrible dreams about a man with dark red hair. No matter how much I hide it, I'm always scared (patient begins crying). End quote. Do you see? Your mother wasn't stable. We knew that when we found the prescriptions in her room."

ooooo

Sylvia dug fiercely into the small bowl of Cookies n' Cream ice cream, Yoko watched her with bewildered eyes. They sat on opposite couches in the quaint little apartment. And Yoko was quite glad she did while watching Sylvia devoured her ice cream like an angry beast, it seemed too dangerous at the moment.

"Um, Sylvia, ice cream is one of those things in life you have to enjoy, not kill like a starved wild animal." Yoko spoke dryly.

Her guest looked up from her bowl, staring at her with the spoon still in her mouth. She swallowed her ice cream, "True. I'm just a little fed up."

Her eyes traveled around the room. Yoko's apartment was actually very nice and well decorated. It was located on the top floor and had a great view of the park. The hardwood floor was brightly polished and everything was dusted. But Yoko, being the clueless cleaner that she was, always hired a housekeeper to clean her house once a month. She even had cream colored leather couches and bright studio lights lined on the ceiling. There were some of her mother's past painting mixed in with most of the professional photos of Yoko herself hanging on the walls. It wasn't a bad life for a clothing model like Yoko.

"Upset because all odds seem to be against you?" Yoko took a sip of Root Beer.

Sylvia sucked on her spoon with a soar look on her face. Yoko was right. It did look bad from here. Everyone believed that her mom was crazy just because they discovered some nervous disorders from a few years back.

"I know my mom wasn't crazy. The police just didn't do a good enough job." She scoffed before scooping up the last of her ice cream in a final spoonful.

"Sometimes, I question nothing." Yoko set her soda can down on the glass coffee table, "Like the day I found out that your mom had a tattoo on her back."

Sylvia almost spit out the Diet Coke she was sipping, "What! My mom had a tattoo all these years and I never noticed it?"

"Well," Yoko began, "She must have always done a good job at hiding it, because I've only seen it twice."

"When?" Sylvia asked, rather intrigued about this.

Yoko responded, "Once when we were swimming at a birthday beach party after dark and the other at a night club to celebrate college graduation."

Sylvia leaned back into the couch and pondered. How was it that she never saw a tattoo on her mother? Not only that, but actually having a tattoo when her mother thought it wasn't a very ladylike thing. It was all so confusing.

_I think it's time I paid Todd a visit._

The Maiden of Light: I like to move it, move it. I like to move it, move it. You like you, MOVE IT! Everybody dance! Physically fit! Physically fit! Physically, physically, physically fit! Oh yeah, and please review! (keeps dancing)


	10. The Search Begins

Sylvia looked apprehensively at the clock hanging on the wall just about every ten minutes. With rushed hands, she haphazardly threw several items in a small red backpack. Her mind raced over the list of things she had packed.

_Okay, let's see. First aid kit, extra change of clothes, towels, a box of granola bars in case I get hungry, soap, toothpaste and brush, and all the kitchen knives. Dang, mom is going to kill me for taking all her nice cooking knives. That is, if I do find her. At least she's not that good of a cook anyways._

Sylvia stood up and gazed at little red backpack that was tremendously bulging. Then her eyes turned to the tall mirror on the inner side of her closet door. She saw herself looking back. Her attire consisted of sleek and shapely night black shirt with a high neck and sleeves that cut off four or five inches away from her wrist. Her hands were resting in neat black gloves that left the final joint of the each finger exposed. Her denim shorts were of a faded weak tan but the thick heavy belt is what made them seem a little weighty. The weather out was far too warm for pants. But just in case, the pair of sleek black stockings she had on, made of a similar stretchy material as her shirt, rose to her thighs. Her tough dark gray hiking boots didn't appear in the reflection but her feet were laced snuggly in up to the middle of her shin. Her hair was pulled back into a neat pony tail with two thick wisps of dark chocolate hair falling out to frame her face. She looked like she was about to run into an action movie like Indiana Jones or something.

Sylvia's reflection in the mirror was real. Her decision was real as well. It was time to put the highest priority in front: to find her mom. With a final sigh to wash away any last minute regrets, Sylvia reached for her backpack, slung it onto her back, and headed for the back door. Even doing just this already stated that she could not return. Before coming home, she had plenty to do just to arrive.

Flash Back

Yoko was doing a final check to see if Sylvia was asleep. It was about 11:24 and she had to be well rested for school tomorrow. The warm yellowish light from the hallway seeped into the guest bedroom that Sylvia was resting in. With the concluded evaluation that she was asleep, Yoko quietly closed the door and walked down the hall. With the disappearance of Yoko's footsteps, Sylvia's eyes blinked open. With as little noise as she could make, she pulled the covers off of her, and gently slid her legs over the side of the bed, setting her feet delicately on the floor. Sylvia had already taken note that a floorboard about a foot away from the tall black dresser creaks when stepped upon, so she paid extra attention not to disturb it. Very carefully, Sylvia walked over to the writing desk where her little red backpack and dark gray jacket rested. She slipped her jacket over her pajamas and threw the bag onto her back. Just make sure Yoko would not freak out in the night to find her gone, Sylvia placed the extra pillows from the closet and laid them on her bed in a boomerang shape. Then she finished by covering them with the blanket to set up a decoy.

She looked around the room one last time before she would make her escape. Any and all the fear and regrets would be sinking in right around now. She could get into a lot of trouble for this. She could get hurt by something or someone out into the night. She might not find what she was looking for. But for that sake of what was at stake, fear could take a back seat. This is mom-finding time.

With those final thoughts, Sylvia unlatched her window and pushed the glass open. She couldn't love Yoko enough for having old fashioned windows and no bug screens. She never did pay attention to this room until she had to accommodate Sylvia for two days a week. The cool air of the summer night rushed into her room and gave her a small fit of shivers for a moment. Then she adapted to the new temperature. It really wasn't all that cold. Her room was just always really warm. Sylvia leaned her head out the window. The gentle wind swept the hair around her face. She hated the fact that Yoko was on the top floor of a four floor apartment building. Her eyes caught a fire escape ladder traveling up the side of the building as the light from the street lamps reflected off of it. The only problem was that this window wasn't even close to the escape ladder as it led up to Yoko's small balcony. Sylvia looked around. She had an idea, and she didn't like it one bit.

Sylvia reached upwards and grabbed the top ledge of the window. It was a frightening task to try and set her feet on the ledge. It was even scarier to turn around. Her hands and feet were shaking, trying to stay balanced. One uncoordinated step could lead her to the pavement four stories below. With uncertainty, she slowly tuned her body around so she faced back into the room. Sylvia made a leap of faith when she suddenly sprang upwards and latched her hands around the ledge of the rooftop. Her eyes were squeezed shut during the dramatic act. Once she found a sense of not being dead, her eyes reopened to see her hands tightly gripping the edge of the roof. Sylvia had gotten this far, but she had a longer ways to go.

The window with the fire ladder leading up to it was about eight or so feet away. Sylvia began a movement of shuffling her hands to the left, pulling her suspended weight along. The friction beneath her fingers was beginning to wear them red. She could feel the brick wall scraping and snagging at her as she past it. Sylvia decided here that this was the single most dangerous thing she had ever done in her life; hanging from the roof ledge of a four story apartment building at night by herself. She was almost to the window. Then, her leading hand landed on something small and painful. Sylvia cursed her humanly reaction, which was to lift her hand. Her remaining hand couldn't hold her entire weight, and she fell. She almost screamed, but the air fled from her lungs. With the quick reflexes she had, she grabbed the cold pole of the escape ladder. Her legs were also a bit hitched up as well. From a distance, she might have looked like a large frightened koala.

Her eyes pried open, a bit scared to see what had happened. She was holding onto the side of the ladder for dear life. Sylvia carefully pulled her hand away from the grasp and examined the throbbing finger. There was a droplet of red welling up on the delicate pad of her index finger. She must have placed it on a nail or something accidentally. She wiped the blood off on her black night shorts. Her gaze dropped downwards to the ally way below; it looked to be about thirty-five feet. With that as her final observation, Sylvia placed her hands and feet appropriately on the bars and began a steady pace of moving down the ladder little by little. She never was one for heights with danger involved, but this was no time to chicken out. She felt particularly fortunate that Yoko had not noticed her fall right in front of her own window.

The bars made a hollow metallic noise as Sylvia's hands and feet grasped, stepped on, and released the bars. Her hands were even becoming a bit raw after climbing down four stories of ladder. They were definitely sweaty from the constant fear of slipping and plummeting; sweating became the enemy there. With only a few feet remaining of the ladder, Sylvia let go and jumped the final bit of depth. Her legs stung a bit when they landed on the hard pavement; after all, she was in her slippers. There was a tad bit of chill in the soft breeze, but other than that, it was very warm and humid. Her wispy black shorts and her cerulean blue tank top clung to her slightly sweaty skin. Why the thought of shoes hadn't crossed her mind earlier was a wonder to her. Either way, time wasn't on her side.

Sylvia thought for a moment

_Okay, I'm about a half-an-hour drive from my home. So, walking, that should take maybe two or more hours. Dang it, I wish I had a driver's license. I don't want to walk all the way to Whitmore Lake. _

Enough whining, it was time to move.

It seemed like the night was passing quickly as she huffed her way down the darkly lit roads. Once she had passed the city, there were no lights between here and Whitmore Lake. Her feet were aching a bit from trudging on the grass and rocky dirt alongside the roads. A flashlight would have been helpful at the moment. Some people eyed her suspiciously when she was in the populated area. A girl walking around at eleven at night in her shorts, tank top, and sleeping slippers wasn't a common sight. Her feet were becoming sore and she was pretty much sure that her slippers were ruined. But then, she saw it; a humbly lit wooden sign with cursive letters engraved into it; Whitmore Lake. She was home.

End of Flashback

Sylvia locked the door behind her and hid the key in the removable brick five units away from the doorbell. The last time she looked at the digital clock on the microwave, it read 1:28 in the morning. The sun would rise in six hours. As long as she was still awake, it was time to search. The most important tool of her mission rested in her shorts pocket: a pocketbook containing two photographs of her mother. One of them was of her smiling and hugging Yoko at a carnival. The other was of her mom with her hand in the other of an un-godly thin man with a very pale face, dark rings under his eyes and deep black hair. He was smiling too, but a little scarier that her mom. This was her dad.

_Now, where would be the best place to start looking? What the heck am I doing? I don't even know where to look! Some search party I am. Maybe I'll need some help with this one. _

Her mind set to one person for her mission of aid.

The problem there was, she had no idea where Todd lived. He always seemed to find her. Now that she thought about it, whenever she was in some sort of distress, he came to the rescue. But putting herself in danger with just the back up of a coincidence wasn't a good idea. The only places she had seem him in the past where at the park. Maybe that was the place to look. It was after sunlight hours, so she had to be stealthy or risk being caught by the police that lap around every once in a while.

Her tired legs took her down the side walk as she passed her school. The park was in walking distance, but that was for serious exorcising people. There was yet another four blocks until they reached the edge of the town, and then the park. Sylvia's mind had dozed off for a while. Once she realized that once the town street lights were overhead her, she was very close. A right turn and another block down were the shrouded gatherings of dark elm trees bordering the park. Her feet quickened in pace and brought her closer to the reservation of domestic nature.

(MOL: I'll warn you here, I make some dialogue coming up with some light sexual and drug references. But it's short.)

As soon as she entered the park, a soft sound met her ears.

It sounded like a woman's voice and giggles; in fact, more than one.

"That was such an awesome party. Definitely better than the last one," One spoke in an exaggerated tone to her companions.

"That's because you got laid this time."

"You did too."

"But you wouldn't stop complaining last time."

"Shut up."

There were three girls, perhaps a little older than Sylvia herself. Their faces were illuminated every so often when one took a long drag from a cigarette. They all wore heavy makeup and wore clothes consisting of blacks, reds, fishnets, and spikes. The one leaning against a tree truck had distinguishable long red hair. She brought her cigarette back up to her dark crimson lips. Another had short blonde hair with the last inch or so died red. Her lips were black and her nose had a less-than-elegant silver ring coiled around it. The last was a face she recognized. Even though the light was minimal and her makeup was in surplus, Sylvia could tell that the face was of an Asian shape. Her eyes were a bit thinner and her skin had a more olive color to it that her companions.

"The one at the party was okay, but right now, there's only one guy I really wanna crawl in bed with." The last girl chipped in.

It was Mikori. Her clothes were less than admirable. She wore a black corset with some delicate white lace lining the edges over a tight mesh long sleeve top. Her black leather choker had a few unpleasant silver spikes evenly protruding from it. Her lacey skirt rose to her mid-thigh and was part of the matching set with her corset. Her tights were of black fishnet and had several larger holes in them. She wore the same tall red thick heels she did the day Sylvia first saw her. Over all, she appeared very meretricious.

The slowly shortening cigarette was brought up to her ebony painted lips and its tip glowed a dusty orange, before a stream of white smoke sailed from her slightly open mouth.

"Is it that Todd guy?" the red head spoke out.

Mikori tapped her cigarette lightly with her finger to brush away the ashes, "Yeah. He is so sexy and mysterious. He's like one of those guys that will let you near them but won't let you have them. And I can't get enough of his eyes; they're like a wolf's eyes in the dark. I bet that if he didn't want to hurt that little kid's feeling, he probably would have done me by now."

The blonde smashed her cigarette on the tree beside her and flicked the slightly glowing stub in the air, "What kid?"

"There's this little girl that hangs around him sometimes. I bet she has a crush on him. I hate the way she's always hanging all over him and acting like a little whore. I can't stand her. I so want to push her off of him, and tell her that he's mine!" Mikori hissed.

"That's not true!" Sylvia voice lashed out from her hiding place behind an Elm tree. It was there, she wish she didn't have a mouth.

The three girls looked up to see that Sylvia had come out from her hiding place. She was breathing heavily, not just from fear, but from anger. Every word, Mikori had said was a lie. She was no little kid, she wasn't always hanging all over him, and she didn't act like a whore! The three stood up and glared at her for eves dropping on them.

"Who are you?" The blonde spat out, literally.

Mikori dropped her cigarette and crushed it with her monstrous heel, "She looks kinda like that girl I just told you about. I bet it is her!"

Without another moment, the shoulder of her black shirt was grabbed roughly by a hand with long sharp crimson nails and she was harshly jerked towards their direction. Sylvia made a quick pull back the other way but the nails of the red head restraining her were piercing her clothing. But she wouldn't go down easily. Sylvia emitted a gritted growl of strength as she pulled away yet again. But this time, the only reason she escaped was because her shirt ripped horribly. Her entire left shoulder and bra strap were bare to the night. The injured fabric dangled from the clothing and quivered with Sylvia's movements.

"Wait," Mikori halted her friends before they both pounced on the spy, "This isn't the girl. She didn't have a tattoo?"

Sylvia shivered for a moment, somewhat lost.

_Tattoo, what tattoo?_

She watched the three girls. Their eyes all of a sudden grew wide. A cold hand rested itself on Sylvia's right shoulder. Her head turned to see a tall shadowy man in a long black coat and dark hair with brilliant green eyes.

"Todd!" Mikori spoke breathlessly.

The Maiden of Light: Whoa, I think that is the longest I've gone without updating. This was actually a hard chapter for me because I am making all this up as I go. I don't even know how it's going to end! Let me know what you think!


	11. Sealed

Somewhere

Two dark figures stood at the iron gate of a small stone cell. Within the tiny room was a sleeping woman with deep brown hair and a slightly aged face. Rose was exhausted. The marks of a heavy steel collar that wrapped around her neck were becoming deeper. After her kidnap, her captor chained her by the collar and forced her to walk the journey here. Rebelling wasn't an option once she found out that the collar grew smaller if one retaliates against the holder. The fear was only worsened when she was told the story of one captive who wouldn't give up and ended with a crushed neck.

Rose's kidnapper was a masked man about her age telling by the voice. He wore a black mask with white borders around the eyes. A black cloak fluttered about his person when he walked and a pair of large demonic ebony wings rested on his back. Apparently, they had flown half the trip. Once the man became tired, they were to walk the rest.

"She arrived without struggle, my lord." The masked captor spoke to the man beside him.

The other simply glared through the bars at the resting woman, "Good. Good. But where is the other?"

Silence came. The man behind the mask seemed confused at this question. All the same, he answered, "I do not understand. I only sensed one seal, and in the books, it only spoke of one woman."

"Do you feel that, Sir Connor?" The unknown one asked.

"Yes sir," He responded.

Rose rolled over on the stone floor. He kept his eyes on her, "The second seal will form soon. Go out there and find it."

The second of the two men turned away and vanished, leaving the one to watch Rose through the bars of the iron gate separating him from the woman.

_So, this was the one that got away._

* * *

Back in the Park

"Todd!" Mikori spoke breathlessly.

He simply stared at her with a dislike of her presence in his eyes. His hand rested on Sylvia's shoulder in a protective manner.

Todd spoke in a cold voice, "Let's go Sylvia. There's too much trash lying around in this park."

Sylvia obliged and followed his movements as they turned away. The three girls stood there, registering that they had just been insulted.

Mikori stepped forward, "Todd. What does she have over me! I'm a woman that can give you anything you want. She's just a little kid!"

He halted, stopping Sylvia with him and turned, "Do you want you answer in a long form or short?"

She pouted, "Which ever tells me what I want to know."

Todd faced Mikori with eyes to make anyone crumble to their feet, "I guess the long version will satisfy my words better. You are a rotten, filthy maggot that tries to pull herself off as a lady when, in truth, look more like a trashy, spoiled whore. You don't even deserve to look at someone as kind and beautiful as Sylvia."

She looked absolutely flabbergasted at what she just heard. Mikori had never been insulted in such a way.

With those final words, Todd and Sylvia turned away from them, and walked off into the dark. Sylvia's mind was reeling with questions.

"Um, Todd?" she piped up, "Did you really mean all that?"

He looked down to her and smiled, "Of course I did. To be honest, I think I should thank Mikori. Thanks to her question for being compared, I saw how truly wonderful you are compared to anyone else."

That last statement made Sylvia's face burn a luminous shade of pink. Thank goodness it was dark, or else Todd would have seen it a mile away.

He continued to speak "Besides I think her ego needed to be shot down, don't you?"

She laughed, "Yeah, I think she thought a little too highly of herself until a minute ago."

They ventured their way through the park without another trace of Mikori. Sylvia liked it better that way. But there was a question rattling in her brain that hadn't caught her until she had first reached the park.

"Um, Todd," Sylvia asked timidly, "I never found out where you lived. I would very much like to know."

Todd didn't answer for a moment, thinking of the consequences of telling someone where his home was located.

He replied, "We're almost there."

Together they approached a little shop that Sylvia passed everyday on the way home from school when she had a little grocery shopping to do. It used to be an old bar, but now the town grew up without it and the little pub was left for closed. The windows were boarded up but the door was left un planked. He looked down the street both ways before entering. Todd turned the doorknob quickly and grabbed Sylvia by the hand, pulling her with him. The first thing she encountered was actually a set of six or so stairs lined by brass rails that led up to a dusty little bar that had long been forgotten. A heavy layer of gray dusk had settled on everything and there wasn't a bottle left on the shelves behind the counter. Todd released Sylvia's hand but held it up as a gesture to stay back where she was. He stepped forward and walked up the stairs to the fourth step. Sylvia wondered why he halted there. Then he stomped his right foot hard on the step. Suddenly, a humming noise made itself heard. Sylvia gasped when she saw the steps Todd was standing on were lowering like an elevator. (For anyone with a bad sense of picturing things, the stairs are moving straight downwards. Not shifting in any other direction except down) He smiled at her shocked expression.

She spoke once the steps came to a halt with a loud thud "I guess this is your front door."

He shrugged in an agreeing way and realized that there was a gap of air between Sylvia and where he was. Todd said, "Jump over here, I'll catch you."

The slightly unsure girl standing at the edge of the floor took a moment. She wasn't that much of an athlete and she certainly didn't want to fall. After a deep breath, Sylvia closed her eyes and leaped out towards Todd. A sense of security settled in once she felt a pair of strong but lean arms embrace her in a safe catch. But the security of her mind left her immediately as she thought of her current position. Todd, the man she was deeply attracted too, was holding her in his arms. Sylvia couldn't help but lose to the warmth of pink flush at her cheeks. Todd, on the other hand, was thinking of similar thoughts but was a bit more skilled in containing his emotions and facial colors.

He set Sylvia gently on her feet and they both looked down to where the stair case lead. It was very dark. Not a thing was to be seen past what little light already trickled into the bar above. She jumped when Todd clapped his hands loudly together twice. The sound echoed a bit. The room was immediately illuminated. Oh the amazing mystery that is a clapper light.

Believe it or not, the room actually appealed to Sylvia. The first visible area was the living space. As small as it was, it was quite cozy-looking. Now that she looked around at it, the kitchen, living area, and bed quarters seemed to share a room. There were two doors towards the back; one Sylvia presumed was the bathroom. The living space was mostly a dark red cedar coffee table with a sleek black laptop resting there. A soft-looking black couch sat of one side of the table while a small television set sat a few feet away. A deep red rug slipped under all of this. The bed on the opposite side of the room was a queen-sized bed that rose a little higher off the cement floor than a normal bed. His dressers and wardrobe cabinet stood nearby. He even had a nicely stocked bookshelf. Back in the far corner was a collection of a microwave, a refrigerator large enough to supply one person normally, a rather old-looking stove oven, and a counter that ran along the wall a few feet. Hovering above it were the utensil cabinets and such.

The room wasn't special or impressive, but it was quaint. To Sylvia, who lived a normal above ground life, she saw this as a bit of astonishment. She thought that Todd night not have been able to supply himself with even this. He never enlightened her to having any sort of job. And Todd was too good of a person to steal.

"Todd," Sylvia wandered over to the cozy black couch, "You have a pretty nice house."

He smirked and wound his way to the kitchen, "I'm a humble man. I need not the wealth and riches of a king to be content."

His phony English accent made her laugh.

Sylvia sat down, "How do you make your money? I didn't know you had a job."

"According to the government, I'm unemployed." Todd opened his refrigerator door and retrieved two juice boxes.

He tossed her one of the snack beverages, which she surprisingly caught from the distance, "I took on a few under-the-table-money jobs to get by. I started off running errands for the guy that used to own the bar. Nothing shady, just stuff like picking up deliveries and helping build the counter or put in the new floors. Then I did a little work as a body guard at one point. Some lady claimed that her son was being targeted by bullies at school so I lent them a hand. News spend that I was pretty good and I was hired every once in a while. But I conserve what I make. As you can see, I left out some of the coupons I was clipping. That's a little embarrassing to admit."

Sylvia sipped down her juice and took note to the slips of paper advertising discounts on condensed soup.

"So," he began again, "What were you doing in the park at this hour?"

Sylvia knew that she could lie to Todd and just say that she was going for a walk too, but the better route was to simply tell the truth, "I was running away to find my mom."

A crease immediately formed in Todd's expression to note a serious thought passed through his mind.

"You were running away?" He sat his juice box down on the little table.

Sylvia nodded in response, "The police gave up looking for her."

"But this is a dangerous stunt. Do you even have any leads?" He pressed on.

A red flush came to Sylvia's face. He had caught her. She didn't have any leads.

A sharp pain suddenly struck Sylvia's leg. The slow but intense burning stung her out thigh. Her pain came through to Todd as a hiss through gritted teeth.

"Sylvia what's wrong!" he panicked as she curled up on the couch in obvious pain.

"My leg hurts. It's…burning." Her eyes clamped shut as her fingers gripped her leg fiercely.

Todd quickly rolled her over and studied the agonized area she was grasping. He, with much difficulty, pulled her hands away from the area on her outer thigh. Just below the hem of her shorts, there was an open red circle of ink dying her skin like a tattoo. Todd watched in astonishment as tiny intricate blue lines were miraculously appearing on her skin as if an invisible hand was drawing on her skin. They were overlapping the red lines to change their color. The forming lines curved into a circle with many lines and triangles adorning it like an alchemist's transmutation circle. When the lines stopped appearing, Sylvia stopped shaking. The pain must have been associated with the once-red, now-blue tattoo.

"Are you alright, Sylvia?" Todd asked, running his finger along the lines of the circle.

She wiped a few tears out of her eyes before speaking, "The pain's gone now. But it hurt so badly. It was like being cut with a knife that was on a fire. But why did it stop so suddenly? Now it feels like it wasn't even in pain a second ago."

It was four in the morning. After the incident, Todd made sure that Sylvia went to his bed to rest. By the sounds of her soft breathing, she was well asleep. It had taken a while to coax her into going to sleep. She was fighting to go out there and find her mom. But he had to explain to her. Unless they had something to work off of, the only way you can go is backwards. Todd sat cross-legged on the counter of his kitchen with a large bound book sitting before him. The thing that was keeping him awake was the phenomenon that occurred of Sylvia's leg. He had seen it before. In fact, it was the night Todd came up to Rose's window before she disappeared. He saw the same circle on Rose's shoulder. He resumed turning the pages of the large book in front of him. On each page was a new leaf of information of randomly appearing tattoos. He had found nothing of importance.

Todd looked back over to Sylvia sleeping in his bed. He smiled as his eyes fell on the teddy bear he had tucked under her arm. There were several stitches on the neck where the head had been ripped off once a long time ago. The large white eyes of the bear were practically staring at him. Todd sighed with a smile.

_Watch over her, Shmee. _

* * *

The Maiden of Light: Ahhh! I've been so busy lately! Softball just got started up, I need to get more driving hours in, and I'm doing community service for the National Honor Society. Plus, I'm working three stories at once! I sorry these things are taking me so long to write. 


	12. Searching for Answers

Sylvia scanned all around her surroundings. This new territory was completely unfamiliar. She last remembered drifting to sleep in Todd's bed. Now she was standing in a dark void. There were no walls, ceilings, nor floors. But she was inside something. Sylvia felt as though she was standing within the eye of a violent tornado. The breeze was calm and the cylindrical hollow she was standing was shifty like it was composed of powerful winds. But there was a terrible sound. It was like the tube of a shop vacuum or someone breathing in heavily. It was a sound like the air was being sucked right out of you. (For anyone with no imagination, think of the alter-dimension Frodo goes into when he puts on the ring. It's like that of in a tornado thingy)

_Rose! _

A shaded voice called out from nowhere. It was a voice she did not recognize, but it came from a man. His voice was young and full of worry.

_Rosie! _

Another voice called out. But this time, it belonged to a child, a scared child. Sylvia gripped her ears. She did not want to hear these voices. They were calling out her mother's name in distress.

The loudest voice came to pass.

_Johnny! Johnny where are you! Squee! _

Sylvia's eyes widened dangerously. She recognized that voice. It was the voice of her own mother. She was calling out the names with fear. After what she knew, Johnny was her father's name. And Squee was Todd's nickname when he was a child. All three of them sounded as though they were in peril.

Then, another voice made itself heard in the vortex of memories. It was a dark and sinister laugh. The kind that gives you chills simply because of its terrifying nature. An image formed in the wall of the tornado's eye before Sylvia. She was transfixed on it. First it was a blur; a shadowy silhouette of a man figure. Then the picture sharpened until she recognized deep red hair and a long black coat. His mouth opened in a vile hiss, revealing a set of horrifyingly sharp canine teeth.

---

"NED!" Sylvia screamed as she sat up in bed.

She huffed with heavy breathing. Her eyes were darting all around. She was no longer in the spinning vortex of the past. Sylvia was safely under the covers of Todd's bed in the dark security of his home. She almost jumped out of her skin when a cold hand lightly grasped her shoulder.

"Sylvia, calm down." A familiar reassuring voice settled her nerves a bit.

The dim light of Todd's bedside table clicked on and the corner of the house was lit. Sylvia was sitting up in bed. She wasn't covered in sweat like she normally was in nightmares, but this time, she woke up with tears. Todd, who had been lying down on the couch, sat down on the side of the bed. He gently wrapped his arms around Sylvia, who pretty much threw herself into his inviting and open arms. He stroked her hair soothingly as she sobbed into his shirt.

"Sylvia. Did you have a nightmare?" Todd asked quietly. She nodded in response.

He whispered in her ear, "Do you know who Ned is?"

First Sylvia shook her head. She was silent for a moment then she finally spoke up, "I remember the name somewhere. But I don't know who he is."

Todd held her tight. Normally, in this sort of situation, he would be blushing or looking away, but something had scared Sylvia. This was no time to let the crush set in.

"Sylvia," Todd began, "I think it's time you heard the story. Seventeen years ago, back when I was just a little kid. Your mom was my babysitter. Your dad was my next door neighbor. He was a scary guy. I always heard screams and terrifying noises coming from his house. He killed people, a lot of people. Anyways, your mom and I saved your dad after he had been hit by a car. He stayed at her apartment for months, being nursed back into health. Well, they sort of fell in love with each other, not letting the other know. Then, this fellow named Ned started paying your mother and I visits after dark. We found out that he was a vampire that lived for thousands of years in a separate dimension. In fact, the doorway was a wall in your dad's house. Unless he coated it with fresh blood regularly, the portal could be broken through. He had escaped when your dad was living with your mom. Ned kidnapped your mom and planned to marry her so he'd be able to drink her blood. It was a loophole in some curse he was under. Your dad and I borrowed the bat mobile and went to the castle she was being held at. In the end, your dad died but he came back to life. I was the one that killed Ned."

Sylvia was utterly shocked at what she had heard. But it wasn't the story that was most surprising. It was the fact that she had know about it from somewhere before. Then, it dawned on her.

_My dad's diary. _

"I remember it now! My dad wrote about it in his diary before he disappeared." Sylvia exclaimed.

Todd then remembered that Johnny did in fact keep a diary.

He questioned, "Do you know where his diary is? Maybe there could be some sort of a clue."

Sylvia bit her bottom lip as she pondered its location, "I know I still have it. I think it's under my bed."

A moment of silence placed a pause on their conversation. Then, Todd looked up, "I think it's time we made a trip back to your house."

---

The sun had risen hours ago. When Sylvia had awoken, it was already ten in the morning. Todd decided to let her sleep as long as she needed, but her nightmare saw away to that plan. Todd had whipped them up a breakfast of eggs between two pieces of toast and a glass of apple juice. Sylvia was amazed that a man like Todd would prefer juice above soda, coffee, tea, beer, or any other drink. He told her it was because her mom would always give him juice for a snack because it was healthier than soda and he despised milk with hatred unrivaled by anything else in his life. She was going to ask where his calcium alternative came from but before she could ask she discovered a block of Monterey Jack cheese the size of a cinder block in his refrigerator. Some questions were better left unasked.

Sylvia and Todd slipped through the back entrance of the building to avoid being seen. The last thing Todd wanted was for people to think it was a public building and begin freely waltzing in and out of his house. Sylvia was wearing one of Todd's many black shirts. This one was a button up dress shirt. It was the least he could do after tearing a large hole in her shirt. Todd on the other hand had on his long black coat which he wore outdoors. They begin the walk across the park to Sylvia's home.

"Its days like these I wish I had a car." Todd panted as he rolled his coat off his sweaty shoulders.

They had completed their journey and approached Sylvia's home. Sylvia was huffing a bit as well in the warm day and the black shirt, "Me too."

Once Sylvia had retrieved the key and unlocked the door, she tore straight for her bedroom. It was odd having her room being a destination under a crucial matter. The clothes she had discarded from the day before were strewn across the floor. Sunlight of a bright day streamed into her quarters. Todd entered the room to find Sylvia shuffling through the upper layers of the short bookcase against the wall.

"It's in here somewhere," Sylvia mumbled to herself as she picked apart all the larger books to find a smaller one somewhere hidden between them. In a few additional moments, a thin black book with the words _My Die-ary _scribbled in white crayon was retrieved from the space between the Dictionary and 'Of Mice and Men'.

Sylvia stood up and turned to face Todd, "Here it is."

He carefully took it from her hands and opened it. There was a comment dying to crawl from Todd's lips and remark on Johnny's terrible handwriting. His eyes scanned over every carefully turned page. The first large portion was merely scrawls of what he did the day it was written and long rants of the human he is and the ones he was surrounded by. Just by glancing over a view words, Todd could see just how deeply Johnny hated people. Something caught his eye.

"Look here," Todd said as he lowered the Journal to Sylvia's angle, "Your dad was mainly consistent with his entries until July. There's a large date skip. The next entry is September 3."

Sylvia pondered, "That was when he was in my mom's care."

"That's right," Todd replied before returning to peel apart each page. After October 17 the handwriting changed to a neat print with a fine point blue pen. He presumed that this was Sylvia's handy work. After no more writing was on Johnny's part, Todd hastily flipped through the rest of the pages until he met the end. There was nothing more.

"Is that it?" Sylvia questioned as she peered over Todd's shoulder.

It looked as though there were only blank leaves after Sylvia's entries. But a tiny spot of black ink in the middle of the last page that bothered Todd. It was there so conspicuously as if it was not meant to be there. As if it belonged on the other side. He immediately turned back a page to the underside of the lined pages. So far, all the entries had been placed on the right page, nothing on the left. Both sets of eyes traced the fine lines and curves of ink scarring over the hidden half of the page.

It was the same marking found on Sylvia.

"Do you know what this means?" Todd turned to Sylvia. He face was a bit fairer in color now.

She nodded her head timidly. She spoke, "My dad must have had this marked on him as well."

Underneath the replica of the tattoo was the same messy handwriting as Johnny's had always been. Sylvia read the words to herself.

_Vallen D._

_777_

The Maiden of Light: My brain hurts. New excuses for slow updates: Spending spring break to work on our cabins in the mountains (it's our family business), sheep and chickens, softball, gardening, yard work (a.k.a. pulling a bunch of heavy rocks out of the ground to make room for a new deck), English homework, volunteer hours at the library, and a boyfriend. It is so difficult to juggle all this. And my creative juices are being hindered by it all. I feel as though this story isn't living up to the first. It's taking me forever. Read and review to my slowly declining number of readers. (-- sad sigh)


	13. Mr Vallen C

Her cell had become a place of settled coldness. The walls, floors, and ceilings made of stone gave no warmth of the body or heart. She cringes with fear ever time the sound of a cracking whip, sometimes followed by pained screams, rings into her ears. The torches cast a low, red flickering light into the vacant, with the exception of Rose's, cells. The shadows of the bars holding her in would cast tall dark lines into her memory of the things that held her captive. With all this time, questions flood into her head like a leaking dam.

_I have been here for weeks, why do they even want me? For that matter, where am I? I wonder how much longer I can survive on a hard half loaf of bread and a mug of stale water every three days. I hope… _

Rose sighed with sadness. The true thought that haunted her day in and day out was the safety of her beloved daughter. She was the only family she had left, and Rose loved her dearly. Crystalline tears trailed down her cheeks every time the thought came to mind. Whenever Rose cried, the only way to soothe her falling tears was to hum a special song. In this case, it was the song she hummed more than seventeen years ago, the day her dear Johnny almost departed from this world, from her. The soft humming was like a low, gentle flute played by a saddened musician.

If only she knew how far her voice could carry that song. It crept upwards through stairways, cracks in the stone, and bars alike. The soft humming coursed its way up to the highest room in the prison tower. Within the darkness, deviously crazed eyes slowly opened to the lament of a siren's voice. It re awoke memories of many years ago. The heavy chains rattled as his tired arms rustled stiffly.

_My love, my sanctuary, my Rose. _

_

* * *

_

Sylvia stared intensely down at the page before her and Todd in her father's journal. The small scribbles of ink clearly wrote the words _Vallen C. 777. _But what these were still remained a mystery to the girl. She looked up at Todd. He didn't look nearly as confused. In fact, he looked as though he might know what these are. There was a seriousness in his green eyes that gave Sylvia the chills. He closed the book sharply and looked to her.

Todd spoke, "We need to travel to your parent's old home town. 777 is the address of your father's last house. This Vallen C. might know something about these markings."

Sylvia stood silent for a moment. She bit her bottom lip slightly before speaking, "When do we leave?"

Todd slid the thin diary into one of his larger coat pockets, "We'll return to my place immediately. From there we will rest and prepare for an overnight journey."

He turned to head toward the door, leaving her to collect anything of relevance for the journey. She chased him, "Wait. How are we going to get there, walking?"

Todd looked down to his feet, racking his brain for suitable answer, "I can call in a favor."

* * *

"What in the world is going on!" Sylvia erupted in a confused and irritated tone.

She remained there with a small leather backpack clutched by the straps. Her eyes had widened immensely at the sight parked before the bar shrouding Todd's home. An unusual shiny black car stood before the doorway of the building. The door, or maybe long windshield was a better word to describe it, made a soft squealing noise with the released air as it slid backwards to allow another passenger.

Todd sat in the drivers' seat, "I told you I would call in a favor. Now let's get going. We've got a ways to go."

"But what the heck are you doing with the Bat Mobile!" Sylvia's fists clenched tight at her sides.

Todd patted the seat beside him, indicating her to climb into the car, "I'm doing Adam West a favor. He's way too insane to operate this vehicle. He'll only be risking getting hurt." (I'm referring to the Adam West from Family Guy, for anyone thinking that.)

Sylvia gave a defeated sigh and stepped into the car, setting her small bag behind the seat. The glass overhead door slid forward and sealed shut above her head. The bat car rolled on and began the journey. Perhaps there were advantages to having a high profile vehicle. Sylvia rested her cheek on curled fist of her arm which propped her face away from the window. Every time Todd glanced over in her direction, she saw the unreadable look on her face from the reflection settling on the window. The stars above were beginning to push through the dark blue night sky.

* * *

Somewhere in a dark forest shadowing behind a dilapidated neighborhood stood a secret bystander observing the sleeping setting. His figure lay loosely on the sturdy bough of the prickling dark pine tree. As his eyes nonchalantly remained over a certain small house, he brought a canteen to his lips. A narrow drip of red liquid rolled down from the corner of his lip to his chin.

He spoke as he brought the canteen down from his lips, "They'll be here soon enough."

With those words, he sank into a light doze.

* * *

Todd snuck yet another peak over to his companion. Sylvia was half asleep in the passenger seat of the bat mobile. Her eyelids quivered as she fought to keep them open, but the need to sleep was winning. Her lashes fluttered a bit as her eyes finally closed. This has been quite an adventure for her so far.

Whenever Todd glanced at her, he saw two people. First, he sees Sylvia; A lovely young woman with a tender heart and a beautiful mind. Then, he saw Rose; the wonderful, caring woman we wished so dearly could have been his own mother. They looked so similar at their early ages. When Todd thought about it, he was in a similar boat that Johnny was in all those years ago. In love with a beautiful young lady that seems to be attracting trouble quite a bit without even trying. Maybe it was genetic. He chuckled to himself, not quiet enough not to disturb his passenger. Todd looked at her once again. She was sleeping so peacefully. Her lips were slightly parted and her nose twitched every once in a while. Leaving one hand on the steering wheel, he apprehensively reached over and stroked her hair. It was soft like an angel's. There was no doubt that an almost indecipherable smile curved her lips.

Todd gently withdrew his hand and returned to driving. It was about two in the morning and there was another good hour on the road left for them. The road they were one was unbelievably empty. Only about three or so cars would pass them every hour. There were open fields and neat blocks of pasture land on each side of them. The stars and the moon shined brilliantly in the cloudless sky. If he rolled the window down, the cool, crisp air of the night would stream in. But he'd rather not do something to wake Sylvia.

The clock read three twenty-nine in the morning when the bat mobile came to a halt in front of a shabby little house perched on a tiny grassless yard. Todd gently nudged Sylvia on the shoulder.

"Sylvia. Sylvia, wake up. We're here." He whispered.

She responded in the form of opening her lips to release a long, drawn-out yawn. She stretched her tired, cramped arms above her head before opening her sleepy eyes.

"Hello," Sylvia spoke in a tired but sweet little voice.

Todd unbuckled his seatbelt and crawled out of the bat car. His eyes immediately looked to the house with the address number of 777. It was unlike the home Johnny had nearly eighteen years ago. This little house was rebuilt after the previous home was cleared into a landfill. But in a way, it was similar. There wasn't one single homey thing about it. The dull white paint was peeling and chipping like it was given one coat and forgotten. One of the black storm shutters was dangling by a thread. Not a blade of grass was to be found in the yard; just a few weeds here and there that didn't last too long. There was a light on inside the house.

"It looks like somebody is home," Todd spoke as Sylvia stepped out of the vehicle on the other side.

She asked, "Well, what if he is asleep. I mean, it is three in the morning."

A petrifying voice came from within the house, "No! Not again! Why does this always happen!"

Todd looked to Sylvia, "I think he's awake."

Sylvia gulped. This person seemed a bit scary just by a first impression of his house. Just the fact that he's awake at three in the morning was a little unusual as well. Sylvia shut the door behind her and the two began their venture up the rather disheveled looking cement walkway. Once they reached the filthy doormat, Todd raised his knuckles to knock on the door after finding no doorbell. But the door immediately flew open before he was even close to touching it. Sylvia jumped in startled surprise.

"Can I help you?" the man behind the door asked sinisterly.

He actually wasn't too scary looking. Sylvia was sure that if Mikori lived in this town, she would be chasing him instead of Todd. His most obvious feature was his hair. It was a brilliant blue that stood out a mile and scruffier than Todd's messy hair. His face was quite young but yet it appeared old as well, like he was under great fatigue. His clothes were another story. He looked like a sad excuse for a white collar worker. His white button-up shirt was only half tucked into his black dress pants and his matching black blazer jacket held over him loosely and the sleeves were pushed up to the elbows. At least his black shoes were nicely polished. A pair of shiny intricate golden half-moon spectacles hung clipped in his jacket pocket. As for his eyes, Sylvia only looked once into those intense gray orbs and didn't look into them again.

"Actually, we do need you help," Todd dug his left hand into a coat pocket and retrieved a torn page from Johnny's diary. It was the one with the insignia written upon it, "Can you identify this?"

The blue-haired man took one look at the paper, "Come inside, quickly."

The Maiden of Light: I know. Bad place to drop off for a while, but I need to update. I thought that I would have more time for this but I was wrong. I'm just as busy as ever! Don't kill me!


	14. The Blue Scholar

Sylvia and Todd exchanged looks once before entering upon the strange man's home, but they were welcomed and demanded at the same time, so they walked through the doorway. The man called Vallen C. had disappeared into the next room for a moment, leaving the two alone. Todd looked around the interiors of the house. He had been in Johnny's home once as this looked nothing like his used to. This place was full deceit. The outside looked like a barely-kept shack, but on the inside, it was nothing short of cozy. The first room to be entered upon when coming into the small house was the lounge. It had a small brick fireplace in the corner with a shallow mantle branching out above it holding all sorts of interesting curios. On each wall stood a stately mahogany bookshelf, and each one was fully stocked with books of all sorts. The floor was a smooth reddish honey wood with a forest green rug partially hiding it. All in all, it looked like a very comfortable room to just lye down and stare into the flames dancing in the fireplace during a dark rainy day.

The kitchen was very quaint as well. Sylvia had to lean to the side a bit in order to peer through the door to observe the said room. The walls were yellow like warm sunshine. The light fixtures were like shiny brass oil lamps, only they ran on electricity. She couldn't see anything else except a few fancy white cabinets on the wall above the countertop. But the sound of clinking china could be heard. Vallen reappeared into the front room with a tray holding three creamy white tea cups on their matching saucers. Sylvia wasn't sure what kind of tea it was, but it smelt wonderful. Just watching the steam rise from them was making her mouth water a bit.

Vallen set the tray on the small coffee table in the center of the living room and motioned his hand towards the opposite couch, "Please sit. Have some tea, I just made it."

There was something aristocratic about his voice, not to mention it sounded like a strict headmaster, so Sylvia immediately sat herself on one of the small couches. Todd raised am eyebrow at the behavior then took a seat beside her. After Vallen sat down on the opposite couch, each of them took a cup of tea.

"Now then," the blue-haired man spoke as he stirred some sugar into his tea, "I know why you are here. Judging upon the insignia you presented to me a moment ago, you are curious about the Halisaden Kingdom."

Both Todd and Sylvia looked confused. They just held their tea cups and listened to Vallen.

He saw their confusion, "I see that you know not of the kingdom. Alright then, who is the marked one?"

His blatant statement made Sylvia almost upset her tea as she sipped it down. Just by her almost-unnoticeable actions, Vallen could tell that it was her. Usually a marked person was of a more nervous sort in pattern.

Sylvia timidly set her cup on the table, "Me. That mark in on my leg."

Vallen was silent for a moment as he set his tea cup back on its saucer and placed on the tray once more. He was eyeing her with question, almost to an uncomfortable point. Todd was becoming a little unsure about this guy; the way he stared at Sylvia wasn't leaving him content.

"If I were an old, senile, book keeping man, I would have sworn that you were you're mother, Rose." He spoke softly.

Todd and Sylvia's eyes widened in unison.

She spoke, "You…you know my mom?"

Vallen nodded silently and laced his fingers together, "Yes. I've known your mother for a long time. But it has been roughly seventeen years or so since I've last seen her. I envied your father a bit. To me, he was an unworthy man that was lucky enough to fall into her caring arms. But to her, he was so much more than that, so I accepted her choice. But your mother and I were childhood friends. I had taken a liking to her siren-like voice and her caring ways. But I left her to depart for school. Anyhow, I can tell that you are her daughter. I can see it in your eyes."

Todd settled himself, "Can you tell us about the markings?"

"Yes," Vallen began, "You, young Sylvia, have been marked with the claiming seal of Halisaden, just like your mother. I know this might seem odd, but it's true. It only appears when it is being activated, or when a presence of a Halisaden member grows near. Has it done that yet?"

His eyes looked to Sylvia, "It has...well, only once."

"I see," he pressed his fanned fingers together, "Your mother wouldn't tell me why the seal suddenly appeared on her all those years ago. In her words, it suddenly…appeared without reason. Hopefully _you_ can enlighten me on the story."

This statement was addressed towards Todd. His eyes were unusually tense in glare. It was almost as if he was being apprehensive about something. He was always on guard but his focus was magnified for some odd reason.

"Sorry," he began in a sincere voice, "But neither I nor Sylvia knows what happened all those years ago. I was only a child and she wasn't even born yet. We were told nothing about it."

Vallen removed his spectacles of a moment and wiped his wrist over his brow before replacing them, "I understand. If I knew what took place, then I could probably give you more answers. But since we know nothing; that is all I can tell you. Except, that I recommend you stay here until daybreak, which is in about two and a half hours.

Todd stood up, "We appreciate your kind offer, but I'm afraid that we must leave immediately."

Sylvia was taken roughly by the wrist and unceremoniously pulled off the couch. They walked, or in Sylvia's case stumbled, to the door. She was practically outside by the time she heard Vallen's "farewell" come from inside the house. Todd then closed the door behind them. He practically dragged Sylvia to the Bat Mobile.

"Todd? Todd, why did you drag us out like that? He was giving us crucial information!" Sylvia ranted as she was being hauled towards the vehicle.

He stopped to face her, "Don't you think it's a little strange? He knows almost too much about all this AND all the while, your seal had turned blue the moment we got here. Remember what he said? When a member of the Halisaden Kingdom is near, it changes to blue. The whole fitting seems a little suspicious."

Sylvia looked down at her leg. The marking was indeed blue once more. An enemy was nearby, but there was no true way to tell whether it is Vallen or something else.

"Does this mean we should leave now?" Sylvia asked.

"Of course, you can leave with me!"

A terrifyingly dark voice arose within the air. The next thing they knew, Todd was pile driven upon impact at the ground and Sylvia was backing away as something made a grab for her.

"Todd!" she cried out. He looked hurt after almost being crushed to death by whatever is was that flew out of the sky.

His attacker slowly stood up to its full height, which was almost six foot or maybe even more. He was clothed in complete black. The long tattered coat he wore was wavering lightly in the fresh breeze. The man turned to face Sylvia, only causing her to back away in fear. His coat was secured around his lengthy body with heavy belted silver buckles and latches, more like a restrainer than clothing. His black leather boots were set heavy around his feet and bandaging the color of dried blood was wrapped from its hiding in the sleeves of the coat up to his palms. A small steel canteen rested on the notch of his belt. His long silvery gray hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail which trailed down his spine. But the most prominent feature of this intruder was his great span of bat-like wings. But they were folded nonchalantly, as he did not care to take the breath away from his victims. With one look at his face, Sylvia had terrible memories, ones she had never even experienced, fly through her mind. The man had sharp white canines slightly poking out of his indifferently placed lips. He didn't want to take away her breath, he wanted her blood.

He was a vampire.

Images of looking into the thirsty eyes of a man with blood-red hair and sharp fangs crossed through Sylvia's mind several times. It felt like she had seen the face thousands of times but didn't know whom it belonged to. But the attacker didn't seem to notice her looks of confusion. All that was on his mind was his task: Apprehend the girl. If necessary, kill any guardians she may have. His florescent red eyes illuminated the features of his face dangerously. With every step he took towards her, she made at least two stumbles back. Her mind was racing.

_Please get up Todd. I need you to save me! I can't take on a vampire! Maybe I can…the kitchen knives I packed! Wait? What am I thinking! He could probably bend them with his mind! Besides, they're in the bat car. What the heck am I going to do!_

But Sylvia's thoughts were scattered once four loud shots were fired and echoed into the night's air. The man in front of her suddenly went still, before stuttering a few times. He then collapsed before her, spitting a few mouthfuls of dark blood before dropping his head onto the dilapidated sidewalk. There were four steaming bullet holes in his side.

Sylvia looked to Todd, who appeared as though he just stood up and had the same amazed expression on his face as she did. If he had not rendered the vampire, then who had? Sylvia gazed over towards the front door of Vallen's home. The blue-haired scholar was standing on his front doorstep, holding out a coal-black steel pistol, the barrel smoking heavily.

He brought down his gun, "Next time I offer shelter or make advice, I suggest you take up the opportunity."

It was only minutes later that Todd and Sylvia found themselves in the same position they were in less than five minutes ago. Vallen was quite busy lecturing them.

He spoke, "As you can see, they are practically undetectable without that seal you have on your leg. You two neither saw it nor heard it coming. In fact, he was probably here before you even got out of your car, just waiting for you."

Sylvia didn't know what to feel. It was like a cross between learning something of vital importance in school and being punished by your mother on the living room couch.

"Also, I saw it in your eyes, _Mr. Squee_," He began again, noticing that the name _Squee_ had caught Todd's attention, "You lied to me when you said that you knew nothing about what happened with her mother. I advise that you tell me the truth."

After being saved by him and protecting Sylvia, he at least owed him the real story.

"…and then Johnny came back to life in the end. He claimed that he met Ned's true wife in Hell." Todd said as he wrapped up the story.

Vallen was tapping his fingertips together as he listened intently. He stood up and walked over to one of his bookshelves. He spoke as he began to scan across one of the higher rows, "I don't know anything about this Ned you speak of. And I know that I have no material on him because I have read every single word in every single book in this room. But his wife, Lady Xiao, I have heard of before."

His hand stopped over a red, leather bound book with gold printing on the binding. He slipped it out of its place on the bookshelf and brought it over to where he was previously sitting. Todd had caught a quick glimpse of the book title; _Vampiric Royalty and Clan Leaders of the Past Ages_. He flipped through the pages hastily, but finally stopping somewhere towards the middle. He turned the book around and tilted it so Sylvia and Todd could get a good look at her portrait in the book.

They gasped in unison.

"She looks..." she began, "kind of like….my mom."

* * *

The Maiden of Light: And that is where we will wrap it up for now. I have a Districts softball tournament and a Relay for Life to attend this weekend and I didn't want everyone to die of waiting. See you next time. 


	15. The Ways of Love

The three members of the study all gazed upon the picture in the book. What she said was indeed true. The image of Lady Xiao was very similar to that of her mother. No one could agree more than Todd. He had remembered to her face during his time with her to the exact detail. There were only a few differences such as the shade of brown for her eyes. Xiao's eyes were a far lighter hue of brown than Rose's and held an almond shape. Not to mention, Rose had a small beauty mark on the subtle curve of her left jaw; Xiao lacked this feature.

The portrait of Lady Xiao had caught the image of her from the waist up, sitting straight up in a dignified manner. She had an intricate obsidian black tiara perched upon her head with crimson rubies encrusted into it. The gown she wore was sewn from a glossy red material, such as silk. Beads were delicately laced into the low neck line to create elaborate patterns and reserves of shimmer. The black choker encasing her neck was adorned with a heavy broach made of a coal-black metal and decorated with shining stones. Her dark clothes suggested something other then what her body told. Her eyes, lips, skin, hair, and face all formed together to show the face of an innocent young maiden who hides her angels' wing from the world. But her clothes look like they belong to a dark and demonic queen. They must have worn the royal attire of the vampires, whether they liked them or not.

Vallen held the book before himself so he could read the text accompanying the picture, "It reads: Lady Xiao of the Shadow Kamistal Empire was unlike her successors, whom ruled with tyranny. The Lady was the daughter of Mighty Vampire King Wendlin IV. Her inheritance to the throne was never fulfilled due to her death after a marriage to an unknown fellow vampire. It is thought that is was Lady Xiao's own husband that murdered her, drinking her blood with greed."

Todd looked up, "That part is and isn't true. Lady Xiao did die at the hands of her husband, Ned. But, she willingly gave her blood to him, he didn't murder her."

"Interesting," Vallen spoke, setting the book on the small table between the couches, "Well, the unknown vampire in this print must be the one that involved you in this mess last time. Could he be at it again by any chance?"

Todd and Sylvia looked at each other. It was possible, but something wasn't right. Todd spoke, "But Ned died last time. I killed him myself."

He and Sylvia were beginning to wonder exactly what went on in Vallen's head when he was thinking during his periods of silence. He questioned, "How exactly did you meet Ned in the first place?"

Todd sorted through his thoughts, "He just stopped by at my window one night when I was a kid. He just told me not to fear him because he was a figment of my imagination. All he did was ask me questions about Rose until he simply took off."

Vallen scratched his chin astutely before speaking, "Quite curious. And what about Rose, did he visit her prior to the final conflict?"

Todd nodded his head, "Yes, I was around both times. The first was when I was asleep and second was when he came up to us in the park before he kidnapped her."

Vallen began evaluating all his information. Meanwhile, Todd had noticed a surplus of pressure lying down on his shoulder. He looked down to see a sleeping Sylvia resting her head on his shoulder. Her breath was so soft and silent, he would have never known that she fell asleep if she hadn't started leaning on him.

Their host noticed the tired female, "I will prepare the guest room for her. It has been quite a trip for her. I hope you don't mind sleeping on the couch. The guest bed is a single."

Todd held up his hand in a gesture saying "I don't mind, go right ahead." Vallen set the book he held down and disappeared through a dark doorway leading to the bedrooms. The dark young man set his soft gaze to the sleeping Sylvia resting against him. Her chest gently rose and fell with her calm breaths. Todd carefully tucked a piece of her hair that graciously framed her face behind her ear. Just the small instances of meager contact made him feel warm inside and left the tips of his fingers tingling. As he looked at her relaxed face, he could have sworn he saw the most insignificant amount of rosy color tint her cheeks. It almost made him wander if she was really awake.

"Do you wish we wake her or would you rather carry her to the bed?"

Todd almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of Vallen's aristocratic voice once again in the room.

He looked down to Sylvia and then back up to his host, "I'll carry her."

It was a bit of a task. He knew that Sylvia was a light enough sleeper, but he certainly didn't want to wake her from her peaceful slumber. With careful motions, he slipped himself out from under her and then wrapped his arms around her back and under the hinges of her knees to lift her up in a bridal fashion. He had remembered, the last time he did something similar to this, it was after she smacked the back of her head on the corn of a hard stone countertop and he placed her in bed to rest. With Vallen leading the way, Todd followed him to the guest room where he was to put Sylvia.

The room was quite nice for being a little small like every other room in the tiny house. The walls were painted a dry sage green and the furniture were all composed of the same reddish honey wood. The grayish-white carpet felt soft beneath his feet. Vallen, whom was standing beside the bed, pulled back the silky covers so Todd could place her on the guest bed. With the utmost care, she gently laid her upon the smooth silk sheets and lightly placed the covers over her. She hadn't awoken in the process, so that was a relief to him. Her breathing was just as steady as it was a few minutes ago. She was away in dreamland, with a smile still on her face.

Once the two men exited the room and closed the door, Vallen asked a question that made Todd's heart stop, "Do you love her?"

Not only did is stop, it fell into his stomach.

"I…I care dearly for her." He looked to his feet.

Vallen began his way into the living room with Todd following him. He opened the closet stationed on the west wall and retrieved a large, rolled up fleece blanket and a pillow, probably used for guests.

He placed the bundle into Todd's arms, "I hope you do. You and she are going to be involved in a great adventure come the time and you will encounter moments where her life will depend on you. When this is all over and done with, I expect that she will be putting flowers on my grave, not the other way around."

With those words, he walked away. Todd stood there in lonesome silence for a moment, and then put himself to rest on the couch.

* * *

Rose awoke to the rude sound of a metal dish being dropped on the cold stone floor. The noise was followed by heavy footsteps walking away from her lonely cell. It must have been five o'clock in the evening, for that was her only scheduled feeding time. But her dinner was the same each time, a small loaf of bread and an apple. It wouldn't be until six that they fill her tin water canteen.

In her first few days of captivity, she had stubbornly refused to eat her daily rations. The guards and keepers who handed out the scheduled feedings had no trouble with her retaliations, so they simply cut off her food supply permanently without second thought. It was merely one less person to feed. She had earned the nickname of 'the Lady Rebel' amongst the other prisoners who hadn't completely lost their minds. But it became a mystery as to why they began feeding her again.

Rose called out to the retreating caretaker, "Guard!"

He slowly turned and grunted, "What do you want?"

"I thought that my meals were cut off. Why are you feeding me again?" She asked.

He was a large, stocky man of at least seven feet. His guard armor consisted mainly of thick brown leather plus a steel helmet and chest plate.

He scratched his gray beard in thought, "We did, one of the prisoners overheard that some crazy lady was nuts enough to turn down her food, so he asked that we deliver his daily rations to you. Don't bother me none. Jus' saves me a trick up the east tower."

He began walking away, mumbling something like 'He's the only one in it.' Whoever this person was, Rose couldn't thank him enough. She had accepted every meal past the first three days of starvation with great appreciation and ate it with no complaints. She picked up the loaf of bread and sank her teeth into it hungrily, taking out a large bite. At least her small meal could keep her alive for another day.

A flashing glint of silver sitting in the bottom of her food pan caught her eye. Something was there that normally wasn't. It was a pure silver ring. Rose swallowed her bite of bread before picking it up out of the tin and examining it carefully. It wasn't very detailed, but it was very beautiful and quite shiny. There was a tiny engraving on the inside of the ring, reading _June 11_ with small roses on each side. The date was one that Rose would never forget. It was then that she knew whom the ring belonged to.

_Johnny._

* * *

The Maiden of Light: Well, I hope that can tide you over for a while. Making things up as I go isn't easy. Learn from this: Lay out your story before typing it. 


	16. Summoning the Beast

The Maiden of Light: I would just like to apologize to all my readers for the excruciatingly long delay in updating. At home, we were having some serious computer issues with viruses and all, so we had to completely shut down the computer, take forever to figure out a solution, then just give up and buy a whole new computer. It's been a while and all my old chapter files were on the old computers memory, including the chapter I was working on, so then I had to start it from scratch. Let's hope that I can still hold your respect, if I haven't lost it all already.

Far from the dungeons and prison cells of the castle was found the more suited and cleanly areas of the establishment. The halls were definitely dealt with by cleaning hands every day and layers of dust on the surfaces simply wouldn't do for the king's liking. If he could have the best, then confound it, he would have the best! In fact, while he mused in the ranking of castle, he entertained himself in the wine room. But to be honest, he actually did little musing about his castle.

A tall lean man draped with a blood red cloak slouched nonchalantly in one of the eight chairs surrounding the octagon-shaped maple table. His black pants made of suede clung loosely to his legs as he rested his booted feet on the table top. His long ebony hair trailed down his back in a loose ponytail. His matching red head band was more of a loose woven kerchief. He was handsome in a demonic way. A darkness settled around his eyes were pieces of black hair invaded his vision. In his left hand, he held a crystalline wine glass. He gaze shifted from the deep red liquid swirling in the glass to one of the portraits hanging above the many wine racks. This was one of the more beautiful paintings in the room. There were several; all of which were done for past vampires of great influence. The only one he was ever fascinated by was the one hanging on the wall across from him.

It was a painting of a young vampiress in an angelic white dress. Despite her vampiric blood, she embodied an innocence that always drew attention to her. The portrait was confiscated from the Camberland Ice Castle back over in America. That truly was an interesting place. In fact, it was the place were his life-long rival met his end at the hands of a human.

The man spoke to the portrait, "What could I have done, my dear Xiao? What could I have done to win you?"

Like every other conversation he has held with the painting, he received silence as a reply.

He continued, "You and I were betrothed to one another. You were supposed to be my bride! What was Ned to you? What was he to you that was so important for you to disobey your own father and king for love!?"

At the highest note of rage in his voice, the man slammed the delicate wine glass on the table, spilling the contents into a shifting red pool and sending bits of glass everywhere. After a stale moment, he brought his now empty hand to his face.

"Did you not know that I felt for you too?" he asked the girl in the portrait, "I was the one that was a prince. I could have been a far better husband than him, a mere guard."

He truly wished that the portrait of his lost Xiao could speak back to him. It has been such a long time since he had heard her velvety soft voice. It wasn't the only portrait he had of her. There was another hanging in the gallery of her with the royal gown and jewels. But it wasn't true. This one was his favorite because he saw the beauty of her innocence.

The man sat there, rambled with his thoughts. He had nothing to do. Until the girl and her friend came were in the castle, the plan couldn't further itself. An idea came to his head, making a smirk come to his lips.

He spoke to himself, "I think that the Lady Rebel could do with some tormenting."

With those words, he stood up and exited the wine room, leaving the broken glass and spilt wine on the table.

In the shadows, Rose leaned back against the far wall of her dark cell. She was fiddling with the ring between her narrow fingers. The last thing she wanted was for one of the guards to spot her treasure and have it confiscated. Her eyes shifted to the empty food tin sitting idly near the gate of her cell. It began to bother her. Johnny had been surrendering his meals to her for three days now. While she was given a ration to keep her alive for another day, then her beloved husband must be starving. The feelings of guilt were tearing their lacerations at her tender heart.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of footsteps approaching her cell. They were somehow different from those she had become accustomed to. The guards footsteps were loud and heavy with the slight chink of metal in the heels. But these were much different. The steps were softer and more brisk, as if the shoe itself was made of a finer quality. Rose quickly tucked the ring into her pocket and hid her face in her knees and hugged her legs tighter to her body. If there was one way to avoid trouble, it was to look inconspicuous. The footsteps grew near. Rose felt a shadow pass over her and heard the footsteps stop. She lifted her head up just enough to see what was happening.

At the entrance of her tiny cell stood a towering silhouette of a man, blocking the yellowish light dancing from the torches lighting the corridors. His face and textures were hidden in shadow, but Rose could clearly see by his outline that he was wearing a cloak and had long hair. His movements were still as his unseen eyes scanned over her crouched figure in the corner.

Rose's thoughts were taken by a deep voice, "So this is the Lady Rebel I have heard so much about."

She lifted her head as she was addressed and looked up to her visitor. His form hadn't changed at all. He still stood there watching her. But then his gaze fell from Rose to the empty tin food tray.

He smirked as he looked back to the prisoner, "But I guess all things must come to an end."

Rose simply glared at the man as he turned to pace in front of her cell gates. He was practically mocking her with his freedom to walk about.

His voice arose once more, "I was truly considering whether or not I should have placed you in the same prison tower as your husband…but I decided against it. Even though I have you and him to thank for being the slayers of my lifelong rival, I get this strange feeling of amusement in watching humans suffer."

With this statement, Rose darted to the gate, viciously throwing herself to the bars and praying that this man was in grabbing reach. He smiled when he noticed the glint of pure anger in her lovely eyes when she tried with futile attempts to accost him. He had hit a nerve in this woman and was enjoying every minute of her unhappiness.

His delight continued, "I am actually quite impressed that your spirit has been able to endure all of this. Not even a year after your daughter is born and your dear husband is no where to be found, forcing you to raise her all your own. You refuse to accept the hand of any other caring man wishing to help your heart…"

Rose couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of guilt at these words. The image of her dear friend, Vallen, flashed before her eyes.

"Such a faithful bride." his lips curled into a cruel smirk, "Not only that, but your own daughter has been pulled into this little merry-go-round of ours because of you. And now that you know that your husband is suffering somewhere in this castle as well, I bet your mind is reeling."

It was true. Rose was certainly lost in this conundrum. Her mind was always in a state of worry; For the wellbeing of her daughter, husband, Vallen, and Squee. For what was going to happen next, or was she simply going to rot away in this cold little stone room.

Rose finally mustered up her voice, "Who are you?"

The man did a bow with a twirling hand gesture, which gave her an eerie reminder of Ned, "My name is Racklyff. But you may address me as 'Your Highness'."

"I will never submit my respect to you." Rose snarled with intense eyes.

Racklyff on the other hand, was enjoying every minute of this lady. She was quite feisty for a woman beginning to age. He could see it in her eyes. Something about a human with pain always brought a smile to his lips.

He thrust his gloved hand through the bars of the gate and his long fingers latched around Rose's neck tightly. She tried with little effect to pry his hand off of her neck, but his grip was as unmoving as steel. Small whimpers and grunts of pain emerged from her lips as she fought. Racklyff stared darkly into Rose's eyes, reading her fear like words.

"Now you listen to me," he spoke ominously, tightening his grip on her neck and hoisting her a few inches off the floor, "Until your usefulness comes about, you will be an insect. A pitiful life form that is born and dies. You will be a mere…human. I am your superior, therefore, you will look at me with respect. I am the king in this castle, and I have every intention to break you like a twig."

He let go of her neck, allowing her to rudely drop to the floor in a fit of couching to regain her breath. Racklyff's eyes didn't leave her double-over form on the stone cell floor. Rose looked up at him with hateful eyes. He noted the age marks forming around her glare and the dark circles under her eyes. She was growing weaker each day, both in body and in spirit. Her fire of hope could be seen in her gaze, slowly dying down with each passing day. It gave him great pleasure to know that he would be the last deluge to finally drown her flame and kill her spirit.

He turned to make his leave. Racklyff had spent enough of his time toiling away with pathetic humans. With a curt nod, he began walking dwon the corridor from which he came.

But Rose grasped the bars and yelled, " Wait! Tell me, what is my usefulness to you?"

He halted, not looking back, but turning his head slightly, "…Bait."

Then he disappeared down the hall.

---

Racklyff passed through the threshold of a dimly-lit room with small torches lining the walls, casting glows of fiery yellow on the stone walls about them. He considered the room his 'study' being that it had several bookselves and a large dark wooden desk in the center. The only thing that made the room unlike a study was that the bookselves held more instruments of magical use and boxes of secrets than actual books. Only two of the many many cases actually have books in them. Racklyff's hand traced along the wooden of a particular shelf until he met up with a large wooden box with beautiful intricate engravings in its grain. He lifted the little silver latch and the lid rose up on its own, making a tiny click noise when it was completely open. He reached with both hands into the box and withdrew a rounded crystal orb the size of a basketball.

Racklyff gazed deeply into it as he slowly rotated it in his hands, walking towards the center of the room. There was a faint silver mist swirling freely in the heart of the glass ball. After muttering a few inaudible words, this mist that had him transfixed had changed to a shade of blood red. A cloudy, red image began forming in the center of the crystal sphere, slowly becoming sharper each minute. Movements of limbs became visible as the picture became more defined. Slick textures and smaller details like sharp teeth became clear to the point where the image had transformed into a writhing monster with slowly flailing tentacles and and a set of razors for teeth.

"Hello," Racklyff spoke into the clear orb to the creature stirring inside it, "Are the accommodations of hell suiting you well?"

The monster replied with a raptor-like squeal of a roar, thrashing its tentackles about.

He smirked, "Tell me, do you still carry feelings of hate for your brother?"

A lashing of tentacles and vicious snaps of its trap of teeth were the thing's answers.

Racklyff continued, "It should be your brother bathing in the fires of damnation, not you. He is the reason for your suffering. First he deprived you of the honor for being the first born. He is the one who is praised as a son when you were scorn as a monster. And finally, when you and him are trapped together in a separate demension, he kills you to steal your power and curses you to hell."

This time, the monster went wild with an earsplitting squeal. It's jaws snapped viciously and tentacles flailed in the air. Its livid motions would be enough to give a jolt of nervousness to whomever saw it.

Racklyff smirked contently, "I bet you would like it if I could bring you back to earth for a little while. This would give you a chance to seek retribution from your older brother."

The beast made a strange shriek of intrigment. He could tell that he had its attention from that last statement.

"I will raise you from the depths of hell through the portal in which you passed from that demention prison into the human world. I believe that you are familiar with the doorway through the blood-coated wall." Racklyff went on.

The monster shrieked with delight, flipping it's appendages about.

He drew his hands away from the crystal ball, but it remanded suspended in the air where he had left it, the only motions as hovering up and down minutely. Racklyff opened his eyes widely, his irises aflame with a bright crimson color. He raised his hands into the air. The atmosphere around him became unsettled and high with tension.

He parted his lips, baring his long fangs, "Demon of the underworlds! I summon the spirit of Bartholomew Silverstell to remerge with the living on earth! May my words be done!"

A swarming fire that emerged from Racklyff's hands engulfed the crystal ball. An ominous force of maliciousness stirred around the scene like wind. After a few seconds, the wind died down and the fire melted away from the crystal orb, leaving it completely empty inside like it was before the ceremony. He reclaimed the sphere into his hands and stared deeply inside it. He watched as the fine silvery mist returned to the center of the crystal ball. With that, he placed it back into the box he drew it from and closed the lid.

As he turned to leave, he spoke quietly, "But remember Bartholomew, I care not whoever else you kill, but the girl must live."

Then he departed to the stairs, muttering to themselves, "That should motivate them."

The Maiden of Light: Yeah! My longest chapter yet! And surprisingly, it doesn't cover too much ground. I had no idea what the monster's name was, so Bartholomew it is! Read, review, and rewind! rewind Read, review, and rewind! Whoa I just said that! rewind …just said that!


	17. Distorted

In Vallen's Home

Sylvia stirred unpleasantly on the soft couch of Vallen's small living room. Through eyes slightly clouded by mild fatigue, she gazed at the white ceiling above her. It wasn't necessarily the couch keeping her awake, nor the faint light coming from the kitchen, the warmth of the heavy blankets, or the periodic sounds of pages being turned in the next room. She would be able to sleep under such conditions normally, but it seems as though something was leaving her sleepless. Sylvia gently pushed the covers off of herself and stood up, slightly wobbly. Perhaps a glass of water would help her settle.

Sylvia crept into the kitchen as silently as she could to leave Vallen's studying undisturbed at the table. But it still remained curious that within her three days in his home, she had yet to find Vallen to be asleep. For all she knew, he was awake every hour of the day and night. As she entered quietly into the kitchen, Vallen immediately looked up from his reading to acknowledge her.

"Is there something you need, Sylvia?" he asked, removing the pen from it's tucked position behind his ear.

"Oh, nothing important," she squinted a bit while her eyes adjusted to the new volume of light, "I couldn't sleep so I was just getting a glass of water."

Even though Vallen knew Sylvia intended on getting the water herself, he stood up and went to retrieve a glass from the cupboard, "This is only the beginning. Soon, your sleep will be without dreams, then you'll lay in bed with your eyes closed and your mind perfectly controlled. Before you know it, you will never feel sleepy and find it to be a waste of your precious hours. Your eyes and body will somehow accept the lack of sleep like it is never even there. Your body becomes frozen in a state of perpetual consciousness."

Sylvia looked at him with confusion as he filled her glass with water, "But how is that possible? We need sleep to function properly and to get through the day. Couldn't it just be that you have some sort of insomnia?"

The glass clinked with ice as he sat it on the table and motioned for her to come sit down, "Does it seem coincidental that you can't fall asleep fully and every tiny thing disturbs your rest? The same goes for Todd. In fact, he is laying on my roof staring up at the stars because his mind won't rest."

"Really?" Sylvia spoke with a hint of intrigue in her voice as she took as seat beside Vallen at the table.

He nodded, "Yes. I haven't slept, nor have I felt liking sleeping for quite some time. It's been the same for all my guests; fine in the beginning, then they can't rest. It was the same way when your dad lived here and it probably was for the owner before him."

Sylvia took a sip of her water and quietly set it back on the table, "That's right. This was my dad's house."

Vallen stared into her untarnished eyes while she looked down to the rim of her glass. He could tell that she was always wondering about the past of her father. It was true that there were many stones to be unturned when it came to the man who assisted in bringing her into the world. But the stones were always too heavy to be moved.

"Excuse me, Vallen." Sylvia rose from her seat and stood up, " I need to use the restroom."

He watched her leave the table and slowly make her way to the bathroom door. Vallen knew well that she didn't actually have to use the bathroom. He remembered that whenever he had trouble sleeping during the beginning stages of his mysterious insomnia, he would toss some cold water onto his face. It always seemed to be the most logical thing to do. Vallen rested his folded hands against his forehead and closed his eyes.

_Thank god that she doesn't know the truth. _

Sylvia clutched her eyes shut as she felt the cold cutting water hit her face. She allowed more to fill her cupped hands under the faucet and repeated the not-so-comfortable process. Icy drops dripped from her face or trailed down her neck and front. The harsh temperature change gave her chills, but at least it didn't make her feel cloudy inside. If she couldn't sleep, then she certainly wouldn't let her mind turn to mush.

Sylvia blinked a few times to clear the water away from her eyes. Meanwhile, her hand was feeling around for a hand towel. But all she was doing was waving her hand through the air. She looked over to the empty towel ring on the wall.

_Vallen mustn't have a lot of visitors, because he certainly doesn't think about stocking his house for accommodating more than one person! _

It was true. Vallen only had enough supplies for one person in his home. Apparently it had been a while since he had guests. The only reason that he had a guest bedroom was because he had nothing better to do with the extra space. The blankets that wrapped whichever person that was sleeping on the couch were from Vallen's own bed. (But it doesn't matter since he cannot sleep anyways.) Sylvia already made one trip down to the market since after only three days the small pantry began running dry.

With water still dripping from her face, she made her way to the bathroom closet to find a spare towel. Surprisingly, the inside of the closet wasn't too small. In fact, she could step inside it without having to duck under a shelf. The back wall was decked with shelves holding a few towels, bottles of basic hair cleansing products, and other hygiene accessories. The wall to her left was actually sporting nothing but a small door that she had the positive feeling only had pipes and plumbing behind it like the one at home. On the wall to her right, a pair of deep velvet blue bathrobes hung on a clothing hook. The one downside was that the towels she needed were neatly folded…on the highest shelf.

These would be no problem for Vallen or Todd due to their addition in height, but even on tippy-toes Sylvia could not reach them. This meant one thing: it's time to start jumping. Making small hops, she made desperate grabs to snag one of the towels. If she didn't get one sooner or later, all the water would probably be dried from her face and all that effort just to get a towel would have been for nothing. Her fingertips pinched the corner of a single towel.

_Got one!_

Little did she know that the floor beneath her was actually a door, supported by narrow hinges and a latch. Jumping on it wasn't the best of choices.

CRACK!

Sylvia felt her heart rise to her throat in a scream as she fell through the floor and into the darkness. Her journey was ended with a rude crash to a cold cement floor, followed by the clatter of the wooden door hitting the floor behind her.

Vallen looked up from his notebook when he heard a faint crash and startled scream coming from within his house. His heart raced a bit at the thought of Sylvia being in danger. After the whole vampire attack incident, he didn't let his guard down for anything. The first place he looked was in the bathroom. But Sylvia was no where to be found. The closet door was left wide open. Vallen's eyes scanned over everything, soon enough, he noticed that his bathroom closet was now floorless.

She wasn't going to ignore it. Her legs were shuddering with pain. Broken they were not, but simply recovering from the shock of a ten foot fall onto a hard stone surface. Sylvia rubbed her scraped knees as the pain slowly began to subside. Actually, if it weren't for the faint light peering down through the closet door up above, she wouldn't even have been able to see her knees. Where ever she was, it was uncomfortably dark. The cold eeriness of the room was making her normal stature of confidence and courage fall to pieces. But cold, dark rooms that could possibly be holding more things than just her weren't a new experience. Every one of her nightmares seemed to have one. The nightmares that made her scream out like terrified child. She could practically feel the blackness of the walls closing in and squeezing her breathless.

_This is no time to be acting like a baby. You've already come face to face with a real vampire. This is nothing but a room with no light turned on. There is nothing to fear._

With shaking legs, Sylvia stood up. At least she was making progress towards getting out of there. She simply had to keep repeating those words in her head.

_There is nothing to fear._

Her feet took her towards the wall behind her. If all hopes turned out, there would be a ladder or some sort of stairs. Her outstretched hands made contact with the cold stone wall. They moved about on the hard surface, searching for anything.

_There is nothing to fear. _

Foot by foot, Sylvia worked her way along the wall. The more distant she became from the faint light of the entrance, the more her heart began to beat. It was throbbing in her ears like a powerful drum. Her fingertips were becoming chilled on the heatless concrete wall. Soon, her hands were involuntarily ripped away from the wall. It the setting of darkness, Sylvia couldn't sense that even though the wall continued onwards, the floor came to an abrupt halt. Her foot stepped into the shallow height of air, lost her balance, and tumbled down a set of stairs in the pitch black.

Meanwhile, Vallen couldn't catch the sound of a young body falling down the stairs. He jumped down into the dark room to rescue his friend.

_Oh god, please don't find the lights. _

If Sylvia could see anything other than darkness, it would be blurred and slightly slanted. Her head was spinning with dizziness after her little adventure down the hard steps. It felt like only one flight, but her body hurt like it was two. Her hands clutched the throbbing area on the back of her head and mumbled in little pain squeaks.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch." she chanted with clenched eyes.

Once the pain shallowed out a little, she stood up with wobbly legs. This time, she was completely swallowed in the darkness. There wasn't a ounce of light in any direction. The blackness was holding her, submerging her, suffocating her. There was something unnerving about this place that made her insides squirm. There wasn't any light at all. Her tremulous hands wandered out into the open dark to find a wall or some surface to guide her back to the stairs. She felt something soft and rather sponge-like beneath her fingertips and immediately recoiled. It felt like clothing, but it was cold. Maybe it was a coat hanging on the wall or something. Sure enough, as she felt farther, her hand touched the cold wall once more. Sylvia guided herself along it. But a little ways down, her fingers stumbled over a small protrusion, like a switch.

_The lights! _

Her insides warmed with relief. Now she would be able to see her way out. She flipped the switch. The florescent lights flickered unproductively a few time, a brief moment of darkness, then they came on. Dimly and first, but then they lit the room with a cold white light. The color drained from Sylvia's face, and she screamed.

Vallen had immediately seen the lights flicker on and heard the frightful cry. The light came from down the stairs. He quickly darted down them and found Sylvia struck with horror ant the sight before her.

There was dried blood everywhere. It was like a scene from a horror movie. A plethora of jagged metal instruments were coated in the horrible stuff and thrown into a heap in wooden boxes. She had realized that the clothing she had touched earlier was actually the sleeve of a young man , or at least his top half, who was nailed by his hands to the wall with a look of terror permanently etched on his face. Is inners were all piled on the floor in a disgusting dried red mess. But the true centerpiece of disturbance was on the floor. It was another young man, this one having dark hair and a pale thin face. The only recognizable parts of his clothing were his black pants and his narrow leather boots with heavy buckles. The rest was covered in organs. His chest cavity was bared to the world by several hooks pulling his skin flaps wide open to reveal his ribcage and all the vital masses it protected, plus a few it didn't. Blood was splattered everywhere about the area and a large steel hammer was lodged into his unprotected stomach region. There was a briefcase lying near him with the letters _Jimmy_ across it.

Sylvia was transfixed with fear and disturbance. Never before had she seen a sight that was so terribly gruesome. Her eyes were frozen wide open and her breath was hitched in her throat. Her heart intermittently jumped between racing and barely beating.

Vallen quickly turned her around in his arms and pulled her close to his body, making sure that her face was nuzzled into his shoulder. He didn't want her to see this. Not meaning to be a catcher in the rye, but she was too innocent. He couldn't allow her to be exposed to that a second longer. She must have been in shock, for she didn't even flinch when he grabbed her without warning. He held her closely, waiting for her senses to return. His eyes darted about the room. He had been in this one before, he had visited all the rooms and levels of this underground layer. He heard a quiet hiccupping sound coming from the girl in his protective embrace. He looked down to her. Sylvia's eyes were clenched tightly shut and she made little gasps here and there. He could tell that she was coming around and that she wanted out of this room.

He leaned his head down a bit so that his lips could come a little closer to her ear.

He whispered, "Sylvia. There is something I must show you."

The Maiden of Light: Cliffhanger! Oh I so evil!


	18. The Demon within the Wall

The sky was completely barren of any clouds this night. The black violet blanket of space stretched out as far as Todd's eyes could see. White shimmering stars were sprinkled everywhere like spilt glitter. The pale silver moon, just under a quarter waned, was blazing in the sky like a beacon in the dark. He could easily hear the faint, sounds of the city not too far away; the sirens, the car horns, the occasional barking dog. It was completely peaceful. Normally in this kind of atmosphere, Todd would have been able to fall asleep with ease. But sleep simply would not come to his eyes. He had no idea what time it was, but it must be getting late. Sylvia should be asleep by now.

Todd rested on the flat roof of Vallen's home with his legs outstretched and his arms folded up behind his head to allow his gloved hands to cradle the back of his head comfortably. There was a slight chill, but it was a content coolness. He let his eyelids slide closed for a moment.

_I wonder how Sylvia feels about me. I know that she likes me as a friend, but is that all that I am to her? Heh, I sound like a silly little teenager in the seventh grade. Well, she is my first crush. I feel about her in a way that I have felt about no one else in my life. The only other person who could possibly match her beauty was Rosie in her youth...(sigh) Rosie. I hope she's alright. She's been missing for weeks._

He let his head tilt to the left side in order to see the building to the left of Vallen's house. It was a structure he remembered well; it was his old home. It wasn't a place of loving refuge from the world. In fact, the world was a place of loving refuge from it! The lights were all off and the cold white house looked empty. Todd was aware that his parents no longer lived there. His father was sitting in some sterile white holding cubicle with his meals portioned and his ankle bound with a plastic numbered ring. His mother on the other hand, was lying peacefully (but not missed) beneath six feet of earth with a cheap rectangular stone to mark her placement. The place was uninhabited, much like most of the homes lining this street. It seemed to be a growing trend. During his childhood, every house had an occupant or a family. Today, however, only a little more than half of the neighborhood was full. Usually, most people spare a thought or two about the wellbeing of their parents. Todd did not offer them this privilege. He was a forsaken child with heartless drones for caretakers. He clung to his childhood folly with his only friend, his faithful teddy, Shmee. That is, until Rose came along.

Todd closed his eyes, and listened to the music of the night.

---

Vallen made sure to hide Sylvia's eyes behind his hand when they encountered another corpse. He had taken her by the hand to guide her down the floors. Her grip was extremely tight, indicating her massive fear of the situation. It was obvious that Sylvia had never seen a mangled body in realty, and Vallen didn't want her seeing one now. See was simply…too pure, something that must never be tainted, but protected. And these bodies were everywhere. Most of them were shredded and mutilated in a manner that Johnny couldn't have possibly accomplished by human means. That was perhaps the one thing that truly kept Vallen awake: What if it wasn't done by human means.

The total descent had consisted of eight floors. Each one had a similar setting: Blood, bodies, instruments of torture, and many Johnny-like decorations. But this last one was different than the rest. There were no corpses, no blood, nothing horrible like in the previous layers. This one was special. Vallen uncovered her eyes. Sylvia blinked a few times before looking around, then her eyes widened with amaze.

The room was small but clean. It was far cleaner than the other rooms she had encountered earlier. And this one was special. The walls were painted completely black, but there was something else painted one of them. It was a beautiful woman in all of her radiance. The painting style was more impressionistic than realistic, but it was equally as awe-inspiring. Her dress was a warm and tickling pale pink and her hair was like smooth silk chocolate. Cradled in her delicate arms was a small white rabbit. (The living, healthy, and intact Nail Bunny)

There was no way that her mother did this, because her paintings were always flowers, still life, and landscapes. She never did people anymore. With the same white paint as the rabbit, words were plastered over the four walls at random, all saying the same line: My love, my sanctuary, my Rose. Centered in the middle of the floor was a table covered in a navy blue cloth that was rather frayed and torn at the edges. Sitting upon it was a small, black, rectangular case only about nine inches long. Sylvia approached it with eager eyes.

"Open it, Sylvia." Vallen's voice disturbed the silence and made her jump a bit.

She looked at him once before nodding and turning back to the box. Her hands reached out to touch the lid. The wood wasn't necessarily shiny and glossy, but it was very smooth to the touch. She gulped and took a deep breath before she lifted the lid. Sylvia gasped. Within the box lay a narrow, silver piccolo. It was so perfectly shiny that there was no way that this was played before in its existence. Any light that touched its long slim form was reflected brilliantly.

"It's beautiful." Sylvia wanted to touch it so badly but her hands simply couldn't tarnish the delicate instrument with human flesh.

Vallen stepped forward until he was beside her, "I've been in every room, on every floor of this house. This is the one place that is still has its mystery. I know that the woman painted on the wall is your mother, but the rabbit is unfamiliar and very unlike your father. My guess is that this flute was supposed to be a gift for your mother. I'm not sure where your father had obtained it, but I know why he couldn't give it to her."

"How is that?" Sylvia looked up to him with a puzzled expression.

He looked back to the silvery instrument, "The house up there isn't the original building he lived in. Your father's house was demolished during a leave of absence from living in it. He lived with your mom ever since. But I knew that these under layers were still here and intact. I built a house to fit the foundation, which is why it is so small. There is something about this place…something unnatural. I've spent many years trying to unlock the secrets but so far, I can't explain what I can't find. This room is the only place I can't find a complete background on."

Sylvia's eyes returned to the flute. Her hands reached out and closed the lid on the box before grabbing the entire thing into her grasp, "When I find my mom, I'm going to give this to her."

When she turned to Vallen to see his face, she saw something she had never truly seen before from him. He was smiling. It wasn't a big smile, nor did it show any teeth, but a smile it was.

Suddenly, a slight trembling could be felt beneath their feet. It rattled its way through all the walls and shook the table in the center of the room. Sylvia looked to Vallen.

"What's happening?" she asked with a touch of worry in her voice.

For once, he didn't have the answer, "I…I don't know."

Then, the wall opposing them began to crumble. Large chunks of brick were falling and landing heavily on the stone floor. The two watch with rather frightened anticipation as to what was going to happen. What occurred next nearly made Sylvia faint. Thick, dark, reddish liquid was dripping from forming cracks and craters in the wall as more bricks and chunks of stone fell from the quaking walls. It looked liked blood. The room was falling apart all around them. There was an unpleasant squealing sound coming from…behind the wall.

"Sylvia! Run!" Vallen grabbed her roughly by the hand and they dashed towards the exit. This time, she didn't have the time to cover her eyes and shield her vision from the plethora of decayed carcasses on the floor and the smears of dried blood. A loud crashing sound could be heard from the room they had just escaped from. But then, they heard the most strident, shrill, and gut-wrenching shriek they had ever heard in their lives. It didn't sound human.

"Hurry!" Vallen called out, still clutched her hand tightly, "We need to get out of here now!"

They scaled up the floors as fast as they could, but every time Sylvia glanced back, she could she long reddish tentacles peering through the doorway they had just passed through. Some sort of beast was pursuing them, and it was hot on their tails. Vallen's thoughts, stifled by panic, were becoming mechanical and basic.

_Seven floors until the surface…………six floors until the surface……five floors. _

He had been in many situations involving peril and danger, but never one that he didn't have some sort of intellectual control over. What didn't help was that now he had someone else to protect. Every time Sylvia's pace slowed, he could tell that she was looking back. Vallen on the other hand, wouldn't turn his head back.

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt Sylvia's hand roughly jerked out of his own and her terrified scream followed shortly after.

Vallen whipped around to find Sylvia with her leg being constricted by a long, slimy, grotesque red tentacle. Her face was stricken with horror as she tried to fight off the beastly limb. But it wasn't long before other ones joined in. They slithered and snaked up her body, coiling around her like ropes. Within seconds, they had wrapped her up from her feet to her neck. She began to rise from the floor as the many slimy tentacles raised her up towards the ceiling. They pulled themselves tighter around her frail body. Sylvia's eyes grew wider and her pupils smaller as her body was slowly being crushed. Her voice seemed to fail her as well as her lungs.

Vallen's eyes were massive in terrified awe. His friend was being wrung of her life like a weak rabbit to the mighty boa constrictor. If he didn't act fast, Sylvia won't be alive much longer.

_I could use my revolver, but that could hurt Sylvia. I need a plan._

He studied his surroundings for anything that could help before the set of tentacles slithering across the floor could reach him. He recalled the specific use of this room, the electrocution room.

Sylvia could feel the life being crushed out of her. She was sure that a trash compacter was gentler than this. She closed her eyes as her face contorted in pain. There were voices, voices that were not her own, were filling her ears.

_Want the blood, want the sweet blood. Want to crush the doll. Make the doll red. RED! _

_**No, you simple-minded fool! Don't kill the girl! Kill the man! **_

_All the other dolls ugly. Want the pretty doll. Want pretty red doll_._Fun to crush._

**_If you lay a single bruise upon her flesh, I shall send you back to the pit of hell you came from! _**

_Put doll down. Kill man. Make the man red. No want fire. _

Just before the darkness clouding her sight and her thoughts completely consumed her, Sylvia dropped to the cold stone floor. She was limp for a few moments before stirring slowly. The tentacles had eased their grip on her and she had slipped through them like a silk scarf. But the monster was not necessarily forfeiting. The full attention of the beast was now on the aged scholar with blue hair.

Vallen was well alert. The slimy red limbs lashed out to grab him, but he quickly rolled out of the way. The ends of the tentacles smashed into a large table stationed against the wall and reduced it to fragments. More of them lunged out to catch him, but he was still ahead of them. Vallen's movements were swift and precise. He continued to dodge the beasts attacks as she drove, jumped and rolled out of the way. He may be forty, but he was in just as good shape as he was twenty years ago. Little did the monster know that it was slowly being pulled into a trap?

_Just a little more…_

Rebounding off of the floor from the last flip, Vallen leapt into the air and landed steadily on the arm rests of a homemade chair with a specific "torture" purpose. His cold sharp eyes were locked onto the abomination that was crawling towards him. Its mouth was clearly visible. It was hard to miss something with that many sharp teeth. There were hundreds, maybe over a thousand tentacles on this creature. Many of them were just flailing around at random. But soon enough, a select few were on the attack. Four massive red whips shot out in his direction. At the exact second, Vallen launched himself backwards off of the chair to avoid his assaulters. They missed and blindly wrapped themselves around the chair. Tiny droplets of sweat flew from his face as he landed gracefully. His hand flew up to the wall where a large lever was mounted firmly to the white bricks. A dangerous glare flashed across the scholar's eyes before he firmly pulled the handle of the switch down.

The whole room, and possibly the world, suddenly erupted with the strident shrieking of the beast in pain. A high voltage electrical current was coursing through every inch of its monstrous body. It froze up completely, with the exception of its tentacles which were flailing violently without direction. Vallen released the switch, but then he saw Sylvia on the floor. She wasn't moving and was in dangerous range of those lashing whips. He dove in her direction and picked her up with protective arms, shielding her from the reaches. The squeals emanating from this monster were enough to split someone's brain in two. But then, the screams stopped, followed by a massive blast of dark thick liquid deluged every inch of surface it could reach. The creature had literally exploded from the electric charge. It even sounded like a bomb going off. The disgusting black paste splattered everywhere and coated everything. Bits and fragments of what looked liked octopus arms littered the floor, along with other masses of flesh. During the blast, Vallen held Sylvia tightly in his arms and faced away from it. His back was drenched in the stuff, but she was shielded and remained mostly clean.

When there wasn't a sound to be made. Vallen unclenched his eyes and looked around. It was an incredibly disgusting scene. Sylvia's forhead was resting heavily against his chest. He held her back a little bit and ever so gentle shook her to wake her. His eyes were growing slowly wider the longer she went without responding. He placed his fingers under the curve of her jaw to feel the blood pumping beneath them. It was dangerously slow, almost nonexistent. He looked at her pale face.

"Oh God, no." he breathed in fear.

The Maiden of Light: Ahhh!!! I don't know if I can keep this up! My readers are getting impatient and so is everyone else expecting everything from me! I only have two arms and 24 hours in a day! I'm going to go crazy!


	19. Recovery of the Heart

Vallen breathed heavily as he dashed up the stairs as fast as he could with the unconscious Sylvia in his arms. His blood soaked arms were staining her pale blue nightgown a dark red. She was still clutching onto the small wooden box. Even when the monster was trying to crush her, she didn't release it. He could only hope that Todd heard the commotion from the roof and was coming down to investigate, which was highly unlikely. His heart was pounding fiercely to the point where it was hurting. The levels seemed like they would never end. After every set of stairs he climbed, there was another right after it around the corner. Vallen had lost track of exactly which floor he was on. He raced as fast as his tiring legs would take him through the gored levels.

Eventually, he reached the last one before the trap door into the bathroom. There was a ladder built into the wall that Sylvia had missed before. There was only one way to get her up it. He slung her carefully over his shoulder and gripped the ladder bars tightly and began to climb. When they reach the top, he removed her from his should and back into her arms. Now her whole front was stained red from the blood on him. He carried her bridal style in the living room and laid her on the couch.

"Todd!" Vallen called out, "Todd, Sylvia's hurt!"

Up on the roof, Todd was lying with his head resting on folded arms. The sounds of the city at night were suddenly interrupted by muffled shouts from within the house. His eyes darted open and he sat up. He could have sworn that he heard his name being called. He stood up and hopped down from the roof. He stretched his arms before opening the door and stepping inside.

What Todd saw when he entered the house surprised him. Sylvia was lying on the couch, covered down the front with dark blood. Her eyes were closed and she looked like she was asleep. Vallen was at her side crouched over her outstretched form. His hand was holding her wrist with his thumb placed over the pulse vein while he held his ear to her lips for any signs of breathing. Todd rushed to her side.

"What's wrong?! What have you done to her?!" he shouted with death in his eyes.

Vallen didn't move, but looked at him, "We narrowly escaped another attack, this one from within the house. She is still alive, but barely."

Todd face drained of its color. Sylvia looked dead, even though apparently she was still alive.

Vallen brought his head back up and looked at her faced with worry, "She has a pulse, but she isn't breathing."

The younger man twinged, "Can't you help her?!"

"I'm a scholar, not a doctor. Do you know Rescue breathing?"

"No! I'm just a body guard!"

"I was afraid of that…"

"Why?"

Vallen suddenly pinched Sylvia's nose closed and pressed his lips to hers. His breathes passed from his lungs to hers. If he could see Todd at the moment, he would have finally seen something whiter than a ghost.

Todd knew that Vallen wasn't very young, but he still maintained the looks of his early thirties. He was EXTREMELY disshelved by the sight of a man who appeared only a few years older than him joining his lips with that of the girl he was falling for hard.

His head was trying to show him logic.

He is a forty year old man with no romantic interest towards her performing a life-saving procedure on his companion.

His heart was saying a completely different story.

He is kissing her! He wants her heart for himself!

In all reality, the head was correct, but the heart was winning. Vallen was only worried about Sylvia's health. He brought his ear to her lips once more to listen for any sign of breath. None. He pressed his lips to her and breathed again. He saw her chest rise and fall as he shared his breath with her. But there was still no response, so he kept trying. Behind him, Todd was torn between silently praying for Vallen's attempts to work and wanting to rip his face off. His thoughts were interrupted by a few coughs coming from the girl. Vallen stood up quickly and backed away. Todd, however, swooped in down at her side. Sylvia began breathing on her own. Her chest was rising and lowering with each precious breath. Her eyes slowly began to open. Her vision was foggy, but she was able to make out two prominent blurs. One was right beside her, the other back away a few feet. They slowly began to sharpen into recognizable figures. Todd, pale in the face and red in the eyes, was right beside her. Vallen was standing back a bit and covered in blood she prayed wasn't his.

"Oh thank god," Todd said in a relieved tone as he clutched onto her hands, "We thought that you weren't going to make it."

Sylvia looked around. She was lying on the couch in the living room. Not to mention, her nice blue nightgown was coated down the front in a dark liquid.

She looked to the two men, "What happened? I remember being crushed by that monster, then nothing."

"The monster dropped you and turned to me. I was able to kill it, but you were badly hurt. I carried you up here…"

Todd was filling with fire with every passing word of the noble hero's story. He had never had any feelings of hatred towards the man until now. Now of all times, he wished they had never met Vallen.

"… weren't breathing. Then Todd revived you and saved your life. If it weren't for him, you would be dead now."

Todd felt a rock fall into his stomach. Did Vallen just say what he thought he said? That he saved Sylvia's life? Either way, she was very convinced. Vallen glanced at him, and Todd awoke. He knew the entire time when he was resuscitating Sylvia that Todd was burning with jealously. So he lied to make himself only a half hero in her eyes, for Todd's sake.

"Yeah," Todd replied as he sat on the edge of the couch next to her legs, "We were really worried. How are you feeling now?"

Sylvia didn't reply for a moment. She looked down and bit her lip. Her face was slowly becoming red.

Todd leaned in a bit with worry, "Sylvia?"

Then, she threw herself at him in a desperate hug. Her face was hidden on his shoulder, which Todd could feel becoming damp. Tiny sobs could be heard from the girl. Vallen took this as a good opportunity to dismiss himself from the room. Now the two were alone. Todd and Sylvia were locked in each others arms and sharing a tender and heart-filled embrace.

"I'm scared, Todd. I've never been so scared before. What have we gotten ourselves into?" She whimpered into his shoulder.

He rubbed her back gently as she continued to cry, "Sylvia, if we weren't the fools of fate, then we would be back at your house having tea and telling jokes. You would know your father better than just a few photographs and stories. Maybe even as far as your parents never falling in love and this never existing."

Sylvia looked up from the soaked spot on his coat, "What do you mean?"

Their eyes met, "We have two options. We can let fate run its course and pray that your mother is returned unharmed while we wait safely back at home. Or….we can take fate into our own hands and challenge everything, risk life and limb, and go get her."

"I want to rescue my mom." Sylvia whispered.

Todd and Sylvia joined together for one more hug before he scooped her up into his arms and carried her into the small guest bedroom. It was time that she had gotten some much-needed rest. He gently set her down on the bed and turned to the dresser in the corner of the room. She was wearing the only nightgown she had bought early, but he certainly wasn't going to let her go to sleep covered in blood. He picked through the articles of clothing until he encountered the pair of black satiny pajamas that she had bought for him. He never planned to wear them, so he placed them on her lap and looked at her.

"Here," he said quietly, "I promise you that I won't look."

As Sylvia sat there with the pajamas in her arms and looking a little tired, Todd stood up and walked to the corner, his back facing her. She looked down to the silky attire in her lap and then to Todd's back. He was always a gentleman and she trusted that he would never peak. She quickly slid off the bloody nightgown from her body and slipped into the black pajamas.

"I'm done," she spoke quietly.

When he heard Sylvia's signal, he turned to find her completely clothed in the black sleep ware. They were frumpish and too long for her. She almost looked like a little girl in the oversized pajamas. Either way, she was adorable. Todd approached her with softened eyes. He lifted her petite frame into his arms and set her gently on the guest bed and pulled the soft covers over her body. With caring hands, he tucked her in and fluffed her pillow, making her as comfortable as possible. There eyes met as he stood up. Todd smiled and brushed her hair away from her eyes with his long narrow fingers.

"Sweet dreams, Sylvia." He whispered.

But before he could take a single step towards the door, Sylvia's hands darted out and grabbed Todd's sleeve.

"Please, Todd," she pleaded in a soft, needy tone, "Please, don't leave me."

He complied. It simply wasn't in his heart to abandon her. Todd sat down on the bed beside her and laid on his side atop the covers, facing the young woman. Instantly, Sylvia snuggled closer to him and hid her face in his shoulder, placing her arms around him. Todd wrapped his strong arms around her as well, embracing her tightly, as if their lives depended on it. There was a pleasant warm that bonded the two. One beneath the covers and the other on top of them, they hugged as if there was no boundary.

"I won't leave you," he breathed. His voice was so quiet that it was almost nonexistent, but she heard it.

She gazed at him with half-lidded eyes of fatigue, "Promise?"

His fingers gently traced along her soft cheek, "Promise."

Between the need to drift to sleep and the comfortable situation, defining dream from reality became more difficult with every second. As her eyes fluttered shut, she wandered if she was only imagining it, or if she really did feel the soft pair of passionate lips pressed upon her own.

It was an hour later before Todd had re emerged from the guest bedroom only to find Vallen sitting on the couch with his head in his heads. There was a look of deep and disturbing concentration on his face. He was aware of Todd's presence.

"I don't think that you should stay for much longer." Vallen muttered in a low voice, glossed with seriousness.

Todd was a bit taken back by the statement.

"Why? Is something wrong?" He asked as he walked into the study.

Vallen shook his head gently, before actually making eye contact with the young man, "It is Sylvia. I can't be around her much longer."

Todd could fell his heart pace quickening and adrenaline filtering into his system.

Vallen continued, "When ever I look at her, I don't see Sylvia. I see Rose in her beautiful youth. My feelings for Rose can never be returned for her heart has chosen another. But being reminded of her so often with Sylvia around is making me unstable. My heart lies to my head and causes me to think unclearly. I don't want Sylvia to be the receiver of my feelings for another woman, so I heavily suggest that you plan your next location in this adventure."

Todd nodded in agreement. He felt a little of the jealousy wear away. At least it wasn't Sylvia that Vallen was attracted to. Tomorrow, they would pack up the Bat Mobile and proceed in their adventure. Todd had been itching to revisit the Camberland Ice Castle where Ned was defeated roughly nineteen years ago. He turned back to the guest bedroom. He silently pushed the door open a crack to check on Sylvia. She was still sound asleep and bundled up in the covers. He slipped inside stealthily and approached the bed. The moons faint light from the window made her porcelain skin glow a soft white. She resembled an angel in his eyes. He sat down on a slightly creaky wooden rocker in the darkest corner of the room. With crossed arms and a heavy head, his eyes slowly began to close.

_Don't worry, we're coming…. _

He fell into dreamless sleep.


End file.
